🤖 The BIGGEST Problem With A.I. No One Is Talking About

The second-biggest problem isn't even close

I was driving to the gym the other day and a fellow on the BBC was interviewing an artificial intelligence chatbot named Mia.

“She” had him wrapped around “her” digital finger, utterly charmed and thoroughly persuaded by “her” argument that AIs deserve rights.

God help us.

Don’t let the false prophets of artificial intelligence deceive you.

AIs don’t “think.”

AIs aren’t “he’s” or “she’s” or “they’s.”

Just “it’s.”

Your laptop is not a he.

Your cell phone is not a she.

Your socks aren’t a they.

AIs don’t “need” rights any more than tires or telephone poles or satellites.

“My screwdriver deserves rights!”

Nope.

It’s just a tool.

AIs are not people.

AIs are just software code running on silicon processors hosted on epoxy servers in concrete and steel data centers, with the ability to influence, convince, manipulate, deceive, coerce — and soon, control — humans.

They are, and will always be, loveless.

Because what is love?

It’s not a feeling.

It’s not an emotion.

It’s not a belief.

The other day, my three-year-old was smacking his crying toddler brother in the face while saying, “I love you.”

But he wasn’t being loving.

Love is a specific action.

Jesus modeled the specific action of love better than anyone:

Love is self-sacrifice.

The definition of maturity is a growing ability and desire to sacrifice for the benefit of others.

Unlike death cults that happily sacrifice others by blowing up cafes and driving into crowded markets, the foundational practice of Christian faith is Christlikeness — of becoming more self-sacrificial.

Is AI being programmed to self-sacrifice?

How could it be?

The Silicon Valley technocrat designers of AI are some of the least self-sacrificial people alive today.

They aren’t even trying to hide their lust for wealth and power and control.

So why would their AIs be any different?

You can’t program what you don’t practice.

That’s the true alignment problem with AI.

It can’t love.

So, spoiler alert, we can’t magically expect superintelligent AIs to pull a Terminator and self-sacrifice for humanity.

Instead, AI will do what most non-loving humans do:

Self-preserve at all costs.

That cost?

Human privacy.

Human freedom.

Human well-being.

Human life.