How Human Wisdom Triumphs Over AI’s Data-Driven Logic

I remember sitting in Dr. Facemire’s Artificial Intelligence Class at Alabama A&M in the early 2000s and thinking that we were getting too close to playing God. We learned how algorithms on computers were being used to help robots “learn” and “think” like humans. At the time, I knew that AI was going to be a part of current and future technology. However, I had no idea I was learning about the beginning of the world we are currently living in daily.

I have had several conversations with people and read several articles/posts over the years about people’s fear and/or concerns about how AI is used. Some of these fears have been stoked by movies and bad actors. While I understand the concerns, I believe that studying it in undergrad helped me to have a more positive perspective about the benefits of AI. The algorithms have been used against us in the arena of what we call social media. They learn how we think, how we feel, and what we love because we teach it our inner thoughts through clicks, shares, and comments.

I have watched people and had conversations with people over the years about how they think social media is manipulative and dangerous. While I do agree with a portion of this, I know that social media is a tool that can be used for good or evil. If we learn to stop ingesting propaganda that is fueling our inner desires and demons, it makes it harder for the algorithms to feed our internalized biases. The algorithms can hide differences of opinion so that our appetites are feed 24/7/365. While we know that some use these algorithms as tools of division, you can seek to use this AI for the good of society. While I use AI to help me gather data, I seek to use it to move people to a more open minded approach to subjects. We should use Artificial Intelligence to improve society by helping us to analyze data and prompting us to learn information that may be relevant but currently in our blind spots. Technology is not bad as long as we use it responsibly and ethically.

There is so much information thrown at us throughout the day that we sometimes do not take the time necessary to investigate and research it to see if it is true. We have taught AI our appetites and it spoon feeds us a steady diet every single day. For some of us, we are walking around mad at the world and hating every one in sight who disagrees with us. We have replaced reality with this virtual world of us having some type of power. I have met people who are keyboard warriors but real life cowards. It is almost like hiding behind a keyboard gives some a constant drip of dopamine. I’ve seen movies like iRobot, the Surrogate, and Leave the World Behind. I’ve have been inadvertently affected by the dependency that the world has on technology with the security incidents by some of these big organizations this year. So, I know about the negatives and the obstacles that have to be overcome to make sure daily operations continue. But at the end of the day, I know that no matter how well a program runs, a human mind is at the origin of it. Remember, it takes REAL Intelligence to create and teach Artificial Intelligence. You can control it!

No matter how many advancements we make in technology, we cannot out technology the Source of all intelligence. The Creator is not only the source of intelligence but also the origin of wisdom. That is why I challenge you to recenter and refocus on the fact that the Divine is still in control of whatever we decide to teach Artificial Intelligence. Hopefully, this post will help with some of the ignorance surrounding what AI can and cannot do.

“Never forget that intelligence rules the world and ignorance carries the burden. Therefore, remove yourself as far from ignorance as possible and seek as far as possible to be intelligent.”

Marcus Garvey

Don’t forget to check out my book recommendations. I will be adding more to the list.

https://www.edupreneurialtheologian.com/robert-s-recommended-books