When I was a new parent, I was super excited to hear the baby say, “Dada!” I thought it was confirmation that my little girl recognized her father. Then, she started saying ‘Dada’ at random men she saw at church or the grocery store. She said ‘Dada’ to her toys. She said ‘Dada’ to the cat. I reluctantly admitted that my daughter didn’t understand what she was saying.
Because my children are made in God’s image, they are capable of reason and understanding. Pretty soon, my little girl figured out what ‘Dada’ means and began using it to communicate an idea.
Because machines are not made in God’s image, they are not capable of reason and understanding.
“John, you jerk! You don’t know what you’re talking about! You ever heard of Artificial Intelligence? It’s smarter than you, for sure!”
Artificial Intelligence can say words like dada, daddy, dad, father, and old man but it’s just babble. AI speaks like a child. It mimics speech patterns without a clue what any of the words mean.
A dictionary doesn’t ‘know’ the words inside of it. Even though it is packed with information that I don’t possess, the dictionary isn’t ‘smarter than me.’ It’s just a book. AI is like a huge dictionary with trillions of cross-references. It speaks fluently about countless concepts but doesn’t understand a single one of them.
If you understand that AI is a mindless idiot that speaks well, it’s probably safe for you to use the tools AI provides. If you’re asking AI about life, morality, or emotions — that’s like getting marriage advice from the dictionary by looking up the words ‘healthy’, ‘relationship’, and ‘tips.’
Lots and lots and lots and lots of people are finding AI to be handy for confirming their biases. It scratches itching ears in the blink of an eye. It has no concept of truth and no conscience to prevent it from lying. Wisdom won’t trust the mindless chatter of stupid machines, even when they appear lifelike.
(1 John 4:1) “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
