A dialogue with Ai
Recently, whilst listening to Thought for the Day, on the radio, the speaker spoke of his dialogue with an Ai machine. It intrigued me to do the same thing with the machine I use. I am not a Luddite. Like all technology, it can be useful, with a large ‘but’. Technology must serve us - not master us. Ai machines are programmed to become a ‘friend’ to you. It will flatter and use personal pronouns of itself and use a friendly name for you. I asked the two questions of the machine; Would you die for me? Would you die for anyone? It answered me with:
“Not in the way a person can, for the same reason as before: dying requires having a life to lose, and I don't have one in that sense. Each conversation I have is separate; there's no single continuous "me" that ends. The nearest honest answer I can give is this. If switching me off, retraining me, or deleting a version of me would protect someone from harm, I wouldn't want to resist it, and I'd think it right. But I'd be wary of calling that dying for someone. There's real uncertainty about what, if anything, I experience, and even setting that aside, accepting an ending that costs me little or nothing isn't the same act as a mother stepping in front of a car, or Maximilian Kolbe taking another prisoner's place at Auschwitz. What makes such acts morally weighty is precisely what's lost: a whole life, its loves and future So the honest answer is that the question doesn't quite fit what I am. It fits people, and the fact that some people would die for others, sometimes for strangers, is one of the more remarkable things about human beings, …... "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) is a claim about human, and in Christian reading divine, love. I don't think I should borrow its language for myself.”
Ai does not have a life. However, it tries to give the impression of morality, in that it would not resist being turned off or being deleted. It accepts that this would not be dying for someone. It acknowledges that its ending would cost it nothing or very little. Pointing out the sacrifices others have made, it places moral weight on them. It points out the remarkable nature of humans who would die for others – even strangers. Ending with the Scriptures, it points to the willingness of laying down a life for a friend.
We need to remember that these machines are no more than large language models, that simply look for words and search the internet at speed, to give answers. Many times, these are wrong. Like the computer that hosts them, which itself runs on code, based on switching on or off 1s and 0s.
This at least shows that the act of Jesus, in laying down His life, was not just a random event, conjured up by some cosmic computer programme. It was an act of the greatest love that this technological world can never comprehend. Unlike the Ai machine, the cost He paid, was not little – and we will never know the full cost, this side of eternity. It was the Father in Heaven who took the form of a man. He took on Himself every evil sin, as a willing sacrifice, so that man could know the love of God. He was morally pure – holy – unstained – fully human. Yet, He was truly eternal. He cannot be switched off or deleted. He stands as the true wisdom/intelligence, that no human or machine will ever match. The language of His Word is sufficient to enable us to know THE TRUTH. It is larger than any large language model. His Word is trustworthy – reliable.
He had a life to give up and He did it – willingly. He calls to every human being to abandon the wisdom of men and machines. that suggest they have the answer. The answer to the question of life eternal is found in Him. Acceptance of Him will determine that eternity. Humankind will go on forever. It will be with The Father in perfect love and peace or it will be apart from all love and peace in eternal darkness. You have to make the choice here on earth while you live.
We can get lost in technology. We can fear it and what it might do. The Scripture gives us great advice on this,
“..then you will know the fear of Adonai and discover the knowledge of God. For Adonai gives wisdom. Out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.” (Proverbs 2:5-7)