Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, but will it ever be sophisticated enough to replace the human? What does it mean to be human?
Welcome to part two of our three-part AI Series on the intersection of AI and faith, theology and work. In this conversation we explore what it means to be human and how that definition challenges and interacts with Artificial Intelligence technology. Please enjoy this multi-faceted dialogue among host Jeff Hoffmeyer, speaker and writer in science and faith, Greg Cootsona, and Reuter professor and computer scientist Noreen Herzfeld, PhD.
On the colonization of technology:
“Technology is trained on the internet, first of all, that's going to be places where the internet is much more prominent or is present at all, and the estimate I heard was about a billion people in the world are not going to be represented pretty much at all in that model. I speak under correction of course, but a large group of people, and that's disproportionately going to be people from poorer nations and people of color and not people from the United States or from Europe. So there's a colonization to the way the internet gets trained, and I'm not the only person to comment on how that embeds a certain racial bias, ethnic bias and so on.” - Greg Cootsona
On the dignity of work:
“It isn't just an economic issue, but there's a dignity to work. People find a large amount of meaning and a large amount of their identity in work. And so they would be losing not only the economic resources that work brings them, but I think also that ability to feel that they are a contributing and valued member of society.” - Noreen Herzfeld
On animating technology:
“And if I fear anything, it's not that AI is actually going to think like human beings or become a surrogate human being in a real sense, but it's that we're going to ascribe that kind of reality to our AI machines and that that's really tempting for us.” - Greg Cootsona
On the future of our relationships:
“And as we face some of the political problems we're facing, some of the climate change problems that we're facing, we do need to start rethinking our old ways and finding better ways to love one another, to be present to one another, to aid one another, and to do things gladly.” - Noreen Herzfeld
