For the last few weeks there has been one theme dominating the headlines across the world’s media. It is not the recently launched counter-offensive in Ukraine, the ongoing legal problems of President Trump, nor the drama of five people trapped in a submersible beside the Titanic. The number one subject in the news has been “AI,” Artificial Intelligence.
The tabloid press used the image of the ex-governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger in his “Terminator” movie role to stoke people’s fears. (For pedantic readers he actually played a cyborg, not a robot.)
In the film, Arnie is sent from the future by an AI called Skynet. His mission is to kill someone who could stop Skynet taking control of the world’s computer networks to launch the nuclear war that all but wipes out humanity.
It was a hugely popular Hollywood franchise with the first sequel making $520.9 million worldwide, the highest-grossing film of 1991.
It might not be quite so popular these days. People now seriously consider that the science fiction flick, actually might not be too fictional after all.
The current Bank of England £50 bill features the picture of Alan Turing. Born in London in 1912, he was a remarkable genius. His most famous achievement was developing a technique for decoding the Nazi’s “Enigma” machine, which Germany used to send encoded messages and was believed to be uncrackable. His breakthrough handed the Allies victory in WWII.
In 1950 he introduced a test which could tell if a computer had developed the ability to “think.” It is the possibility that they can or will in only a few years’ time that has caused all those headlines… and fear.
On 22 March more than 1,800 signatories including Elon Musk, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak called for a six-month pause on the development of AI systems “more powerful” than the present leader “GPT-4.” Engineers from Amazon, DeepMind, Google, Meta and Microsoft also lent their support.
These signatories are not the usual type of folk who read the tabloid press.
Such AI systems with “Human-competitive intelligence” (sic) pose profound risks to humanity, the letter claimed.
The UK Prime Minister’s top technology advisor, Matt Clifford warned that humanity has only one or two years to “tame” AI. “The risk” he said, “is what happens when we effectively create a new species… an intelligence that is greater than humans.”
What people fear isn’t “human competitive intelligence”; they worry about a human-superior intelligence.
That topic was at the top of the agenda when the UK’s PM met President Biden recently in Washington DC.
Of course, computers becoming not only many times more intelligent than humans, but self-aware, is hardly a new idea. Until now though, it has been one that only appeared in science fiction books and Hollywood blockbusters.
The usual formula of such stories is that all the world’s computers become interlinked and create the “New Species” Mr. Clifford mentioned. This community of computers becomes “self-aware” and thinks, “Who needs puny humans anyway?” and decides to eradicate us.
So as the world’s computers are already interlinked, and AI-like ChatGPT is busy writing essays, solving equations or producing art at a superior level to that of humans, it’s not unreasonable to be worried.
Another science fiction “classic” worried British scientist, Steven Hawking. He decried NASA’s decision to send two “Voyager” spacecraft into deep space with a message to extraterrestrials including our zip code. NASA also beams radio messages through space to try to contact “aliens.”
“If aliens visit us,” Hawkings warned, “the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans!”
Professor Hawking makes an important and logical point. Historically when human societies that were more technologically advanced, discovered ones that were not, their normal response was to kill or enslave them and rob their country’s natural resources.
It would be unreasonable to assume that an advanced alien culture (should one exist), would act any differently towards us. They might be every bit as barbaric and selfish as we human beings. Why assume that extraterrestrials who are technologically superior to us will be morally superior to us too? Just because aliens have superior intelligence might not make them angels. Even if it did, that wouldn’t help in the slightest.
Scenarios of alien life and beings with superior Intelligence should be familiar to Orthodox readers of course. The Torah explains that there already exists a species that is exponentially more intelligent than we humans and just as envisaged by writers of Sci-Fi movies and Professor Hawking, they don’t think we deserve to exist. They are the aforementioned angels.
The Talmud says that Hashem asked for their opinion about mankind ruling this world. They asked rather reasonably, “What’s mankind like?” When they heard, they replied with a unanimous and unequivocal “NO!”
Hashem disagreed and overruled them.
The classic Torah commentator Rashi, explains that when Hashem sent Noach’s flood, he used a malach called “Androlmusia.” This angel simply cannot distinguish between good humans and bad and so it kills and killed everyone.
The reason it cannot distinguish between good humans and bad ones is that angels see no distinction. Even the greatest “tzaddik,” like Yoseph who successfully fought against his negative self (his yetzer hara) his entire life…still considered giving in for a millisecond before saying no. That millisecond’s contemplation of opposing Hashem, makes all human beings evil in the eyes of angels…and obviously…for that we should be destroyed. Frankly, angels do not like us.
Yet there is an intelligence that is incalculably and infinitely greater than angels… and that is Hashem Himself. Yet not only does He tolerate our numerous insults to Him and countless betrayals of Him; He also actually allows us to carry on our terrible behavior. He knows we can… and “hopes” we will choose to do better.
Human beings and especially Jewish ones are very lucky indeed, that unlike AI, aliens and angels… Hashem does like us, in fact… He loves us.
