Dangers of Technology
Technology is a lethal weapon, and these days it feels like the world is running with knives. Understanding how to avoid the dangers of AI is as important as understanding its benefits, so that we can live victoriously and not harm ourselves and each other.
Prayer must always come first.
Artificial Intelligence can be the latest in a long line of advisors—from your closest friends and family, to your favourite books or websites. Scripture teaches us that:
By wise counsel you will wage war, and in a multitude of counsellors there is safety —Proverbs 24:6 (KJV)
However we should not the mistake of making any of these a substitute for prayer and the word of God. The Holy Spirit must always remain our primary consultant, so that we first take everything to the Lord in prayer. If any person or software becomes our first go-to for direction instead of the Lord, then we need to realign our faith.
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth — John 16:13 (NIV)
Remember what you are dealing with.
One reason why Artificial Intelligence is so impressive is because of how convincing its intelligence is. In essence it is just predictive software, like the one that your phone uses to autocomplete words, but on a much more massive scale.
But this same predictive nature means that the output you receive will be diluted by the vast knowledge of the Internet. ChatGPT can sound both convincing and utterly convinced in its responses because that is the role of predictive software, but it doesn't mean that it's always right.
Equally important to remember is that computer systems are designed to give you a reliable response based on what you ask, not what you do not ask. A simple calculator will always give you the right answer but only if you enter the right numbers. Learning to use AI means learning how to ask the right questions:
I might ask an AI to translate an email into French. Is the intended audience familiar (tu form) or unfamiliar (vous form)? If it is a Christian audience, will it be for evangelicals or catholics or another denomination, and do they use different terms for different Christian concepts?
I might ask an AI to generate an image of Jesus in Heaven. What does it understand of Jesus? Is it Jesus on the cross? Jesus as he walked on the Earth? Jesus in all his glory? What about Heaven, is its depiction based on the Heavenly Jerusalem? Hollywood's Heaven?
Be careful with sensitive information.
Data breaches are sadly a daily occurrence, and AI systems are no exception. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and DALL-E, has already suffered hacking attempts and even bugs causing users to accidentally see other people's histories of conversations. This has caused some companies to be very careful with how much they use it.
If you do wish to use AI, I would recommend that you be careful how much PII (personally identifiable information) you share. PII refers to any information that can be used to personally identify an individual, such as:
Addresses
Account details or passwords
Telephone numbers
Tax information or personal identification numbers
Needless to say, you should never ever enter credit card information or login details when talking with an AI chatbot.
