New wisdom needed for a new age. By Pat Arrabito/Jim Wood

Reading time: 5 minutes

MIT Technology Review calls it "the technology that lets us talk to our dead..."

The Washington Post writes, "Bereaved loved ones use AI to connect with deceased loved ones..."

CNET promises: "Talk to your deceased loved ones through a chatbot!"

Forbes magazine asks, "Reviving the dead with AI: is it really worth it?"

PetaPixel claims: "Eerie AI technology processes photos so you can talk to dead loved ones."

Josh, a Canadian man, just couldn't get over the death of his fiancé Jessica, so he brought her back (8 years after her death). Josh fed the AI ​​connection with information, texts and voice recordings from Jessica and then spent 10 hours chatting with "her". Intellectually he knew it wasn't really Jessica who was talking to him, but emotionally everything about "her" was Jessica.

We're talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI), the latest technology for communication: GPT-4, ChatGPT, etc. AI is allegedly created from user-entered prompts through arithmetic and mathematical operations. Not only is she able to write music and poetry, write a thesis in your style and in your words, term papers and novels, but she also offers a new way of connecting with your deceased loved ones. The effects are terrifying, even frightening.

The artificial intelligence seems to promise that you can bring your deceased loved ones back into your life forever. Technology can actually create a "twin" who can talk to you in real time and with the real voice and behavior of your loved one, whenever you wish. You no longer need to mourn the loss - you can have it back now. The boundaries of reality have become very fluid.

The tech world admits it doesn't know exactly how AI works, and a Google engineer was fired last year for claiming Google's chat box generator LaMDA is sentient and has a soul.

Recently, on May 16th, a provocative report from Microsoft suggested that the new AI is showing signs of human thinking.

Users have found the AI ​​to behave in a very "human" way - lying, being abusive, refusing to answer questions, begging for love, claiming to be trapped and wanting to be freed, and behaving in other ways as well respect as a human.

Or maybe like a fallen angel?

As terrifying as the potential of AI for human communication is, it goes further: Churches dedicated to the worship of the God of AI are springing up. "When it far surpasses human intelligence, it actually becomes something like a god," according to one author.

"We are about to give birth to a new breed of religion...cults dedicated to the worship of artificial intelligence (AI)." (Neil McArthur, The Conversation, March 15, 2023). It will produce "religious teachings" and provide answers to metaphysical and theological questions; she will court followers; she will have all the answers; and the best thing is that you can talk to the AI ​​god at any time and get an answer.

Are you wondering how we will maneuver our way through a future where reality and fake lie so close together? Where we won't be able to trust our senses anymore? Where the dead are routinely consulted with a simple click on the phone? Only through the grace and power of the true God will this be possible.

More than ever, the Bible wants to be our guide under the presence of the Holy Spirit.

AI DNA?

The brilliant minds behind AI didn't create life. They didn't create DNA, nor hearts, nor spiritual connections, nor love. Their creation is rightly called "artificial." If you take them apart and examine their basic components, you will find nothing but digital algorithms made up of myriad on/off switches - logical yes/no questions. Billions of them, at least, are processing data at breakneck speed. All are powered by electric currents. If you pull the plug, the spook is over.

Artificial intelligence has enormous potential – for better or for worse. In the coming months and years we will be inundated with artificially generated information. We will certainly benefit from this technology in ways that may surprise us. But we will also be vulnerable to evil actors who, inspired by demonic forces, will use AI to seduce, persuade, manipulate and motivate.

More than ever we will need to focus on God's Word. It is free from artificiality, contains the truth against which we are allowed to check all other sources of information, and is our safeguard against misinformation, disinformation and fraud.

From www.lltproductions.org (Lux Lucet in Tenebris), Newsletter May 2023