AI Fearmongering
Enough already.
I don’t know what’s worse.
The people who fear that AI will take over everything, or the ones who are pushing for Artificial Intelligence to take over everything.
They’re both wrong, of course.
This current line of discussion started with Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. The Pope pointed out that AI is a tool, no more, no less. It’s not a replacement for people. Leo doesn’t like the potential for disinformation,1 and he thinks linking AI to weapon systems is a bad idea, probably because he saw The Terminator.2 Oh yeah, AI isn’t the cure-all, end-all, be-all. Duh.
And having AI manage everyone’s life for efficiency? Probably a bad idea. I think that was the point of a Twilight Zone episode.3
That is the short version that’s relevant to this post. Magnifica Humanitas is over 42,000 words. Do read it yourself. Though you can pretty much guess the content by the subtitle.
Of course, just what little I cited made people flip right the Hell out.
IT’S ANTI-PROGRESS! THE POPE IS A DIRTY COMMIE!4 WE NEED AI BEFORE CHINA FIGURES IT OUT!
Sigh.
Even Greg Gutfeld, who I usually respect, seems to be fellating Grok on the altar of AI. During his rant last Friday, May 29, he showed off a headline that screamed, “AI SOLVED AN UNSOLVABLE MATH PROBLEM!!!!!”5
Having used AI, I know that for every headline that tells us about the latest AI breakthrough, there were at least 20 human specialists who had to rewrite over 100 prompts telling AI why “This answer is wrong, now do it again, without the hallucinations this time.” Otherwise, they had to hold AI’s hand the entire way, step by step.
Also, we all realize that AI didn’t just up and spontaneously answer this question. Someone had to be educated enough within the field to ask the question, and understand the importance of answering it. AI has no agency. The day it does someone of its own volition, unrelated to its programming, we should all be very concerned very quickly.
Then, Tuesday night (June 2nd), Gutfeld covered a story about how many people have found their college degrees being useless, and boasted, “And if you don’t know how to use AI, you’re going to be left in the dust!”
I’m sorry, I think I just rolled my eyes hard enough to hurt. Though that might merely be the stupid getting to me.
Education is lacking quality, therefore we should leave it to AI? Really? So, for a moment, forget who’s actually coding the AI. Who’s programming the future AI education? If the education system is just going to jump straight to the education system of The Prisoner, where we can be fed facts without knowledge or wisdom, then what’s the difference from our current system?6
Hell, if I used AI in a field I wasn’t familiar in, and then I didn’t double check it, I’d be screwed. Hands down. No question.
But then, you have to know something in order to double check what AI gives you. Isn’t that funny?
When Greg Gutfeld foregoes hiring an electrician, and instead uses AI to guide him to rewire his home, then I will believe his faith in AI—assuming he doesn’t electrocute himself or burn his house down along the way.
Then, after Magnifica Humanitas was released, there was the screaming on social media about China.
“Durr! We need to develop our AI before China can weaponize it! Durr!”
Oh, stop it. Just … stop, please.
China won’t develop anything.
Why? Because China has never developed anything ever.
China will just steal it from us and declare it “superior.” As usual. Communist SOP.
China’s AI? Right now? Is just rebranded Temu ChatGPT.
I mean that literally.
Play with it long enough, and it will call itself ChatGPT. Because China can’t even steal it properly and file off all the serial numbers from what they stole.
Hell, this is like the MiG all over again.
You don’t know that story?
Simply put: Commies declare they have a superior tenth-gen **SOMETHING*.* We overcompensate by developing a superior counterpoint. Then we get our hands on that Commie something, we discover that it’s trash, and we’re at least three generations ahead. Again.
And this has happened over. And over. And over again.
The MiG— crap.
The Hind— Crap
Russian Su-57 “stealth” fighter— not stealth by our standards.
“Sixth Gen” Chinese fighters— again, not up to our standards of third gen.
“China’s Navy is so large”— and their boats and ships routinely sink.
“Hypersonic weaponry”—they keeping using that term. I do not think it means what they think it means.
Now, we’re at “AI and China.” Give me a break.
If we’re really worried about China, China has an off switch called the Three Gorges Dam.7 No, Trump probably wouldn’t blow it up. But Vance? Rubio? Hegseth? They might. And that’s assuming the darned thing doesn’t fall apart all on its own, because concrete shouldn’t bulge.
But as for AI, yeah. AI is the new panacea that will solve everything. It'll solve cancer! World peace! Yadda yadda yadda.
No, it won’t.
This is one part driven by Cold War 2.0, one part driven by transhumanist tech bros.8 Peter Thiel tried to sway Marco Rubio that Pope Leo is a dirty commie…right before he fled to Argentina. Like every other materialist, they think that Artificial Intelligence is genuine thought, instead of the simulacrum it really is.
And like The Music Man, the first person the tech bros have to fool is themselves. I’m sure they’re still trying to convince people reality is a simulation, too.
AI a tool. But just like any other tool, we need the judgement to use it prudentially. And where are we going to teach prudential judgement? Also like any power tool, be certain of what you’re plugging it in to and what you’re using it for. You don’t want to lose an eye. And plugging AI into a minigun or a drone swarm or a nuke isn’t going to end with telling the AI it was wrong, and getting an “Oops! You’re right! I’m so sorry about that! I’ll do better next time!”
Seriously, forget Skynet and the HAL-9000. Has no one watched War Games? Or met the Blue Screen of Death? Or deal with Windows?
Have I found AI useful? Sure.
If you can handle it with a whip and a chair, and you are already enough of an expert to know where and how it’s dropping the ball, it’s useful.
Should we know how to use it? Sure. Just like any other tool. Exactly like the Pope said.
But then, none of the people who’ve disagreed with the Pope … have actually read Magnifica Humanitas. But they’re all so, so eager to disagree.
The people who fear that AI will take over everything are wrong because it isn’t able to.
The ones who are pushing for Artificial Intelligence to take over everything should know better.
Again, feel free to ask me anything in the comments. If you get an email, you can ping me through the comment button at the top.
And please, feel free to buy a book, or leave a book review. Either would be greatly appreciated.
Which was the first worry I heard people express when this came out with deep fakes.
Skynet is a bad idea.
Season 5 episode “The Brain Center at Whipple’s” (1964),
While officially naming martyrs killed by Communists…
And conveniently doesn’t tell us what problem, or why it was unsolvable
Episode: “The General.”
If you don’t know, the only thing keeping China’s silicon valley and it’s 300 million people from drowning is a dam that isn’t exactly up to code.
Short version: They think the Borg is a great idea.
"Because China can’t even steal it properly and file off all the serial numbers from what they stole." -- yup. I learned that decades ago, back when Huawei had just gotten started and was caught doing exactly that with Cisco's IP.
As for "...there were at least 20 human specialists who had to rewrite over 100 prompts telling AI why “This answer is wrong, now do it again, without the hallucinations this time.” Otherwise, they had to hold AI’s hand the entire way, step by step." that matches my experience precisely. My employer has gotten serious about using AI, and while I've had some notable successes, I have definitely observed what you describe. And for the cases where things worked rather well, part of the reason is that I spent several hours very carefully crafting a detailed prompt.
Great perspective here! My husband likes to use Grok to come up with new card decks for Magic the Gathering and other games. Grok constantly invents cards then lies about it. It can't do basic math. "I removed one card (from 50) and added four more, that brings the total back to 50". I recently did a search for Shell Beach in CA. It gave me the correct stats and location, then proceeded to tell me about Shell Beach in Western Australia. It's so stinking unreliable.