"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Eph 6:12
I spent some time last night scrolling through my Facebook feed. I paused to read a meme here, a snippet there. I stopped and read a comment by a long time and experienced author who was expressing fear caused by the push of AI into the world of writing and publishing.
The advent of self publishing and the relative ease with which one can now published a book has muddied the waters, in that there is now a deluge of poor quality work being thrown up for a reader to pick through and either toss aside or give a go.
I am thankful that most of the time I can use the feature "Read a Sample," so I can see how good, or sadly more often, how awful the writing is.
Enter AI into this fray. Artificial Intelligence. Computers that are programmed to be intelligent, to think, to reason, make decisions, solve problems that, historically, only humans have been able to do. Every time we interact with a customer service chatbot we are engaging with an AI. These technologies are being used to create written content. Having been forced to use one of these chatbots, on more than one occasion, I can express my frustration at how wooden and unresponsive it was.
Let me digress for a few moments. My undergraduate degree was in English Literature. I read and analysed a lot of novels, poems, and plays. The purpose of such study was to understand the human condition. To equate with characters who were created and written by a real human author in order to explore what it is like to be a human being. In thinking about AI, and how it is now possible for a machine to 'create' written content, I began to wonder at how this shift has occurred.
It may seem like a bit of a conceptual leap, but I was reminded of the verse from Ephesians 6, where the Apostle Paul speaks about wrestling against principalities, and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. (Eph 6:12) To get a better idea of what might be happening, take up your Bible and turn to Luke 10:18 where Jesus Himself tells us that Satan was booted out of heaven. Of course, Satan is none too happy about this, and sees it as his role and responsibility to do everything he can to make life unpleasant for we human beings here on earth, doing what can be done to thwart God's purpose and separate as many people as he can from the Love of God.
So, I hear you ask, what has this to do with AI? The more we interact with so called intelligent machines, the more we are removed from real and meaningful relationships. The more we are exposed to distorted representations of the human condition the more we accept the aberrant as being normal. If we accept that we are created in the image of God, then our sense of self is threatened by those influences that want nothing more than to bring disease to an otherwise healthy self image.
Let me assure you, the devil has a use by date, and he knows it. God's Love is eternal, triumphant and transcendent. How do I know this? I simply look to the Cross. I look to the empty tomb. I look to Jesus. What better way to understand who I am and why I am here than to engage with the one who created me, and who loves me even unto death on a cross? In doing this, then the machineries at play break down, the distortions of self that we are being urged to accept become obvious and we can seek the healing offered by Christ, that deep renewal that is available to us as believers.
The key is to recognise the unhealthy fare we are being offered, and to turn aside from it.
Look first, foremost, and always to Jesus.
(The above first appeared as on The Bible Bloke Facebook page. For lots more content give The Bible Bloke a like on Facebook.)