USA - When a Machine Begins to Think
A group of philosophers and computer scientists recently published a study in Nature calling on AI developers—such as OpenAI, Google and Microsoft—to examine the “realistic possibility that some AI systems will be conscious and/or robustly agentic—and thus morally significant—in the near future.” The study also calls on these companies to define how such systems should be treated if they are found to be “alive” and “thinking.”
Jeff Sebo, a philosopher at New York University and a co-author of the report, warned, “If we wrongly assume a system is conscious, welfare funding might be funneled towards its care, and therefore taken away from people or animals that need it, or it could lead you to constrain efforts to make AI safe or beneficial for humans.”
“There is a shift happening because there are now people at leading AI companies who take AI consciousness, agency, and moral significance seriously,” Sebo says.
-www.ynetnews.com, 11 December 2024
Arno's Commentary
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a key term for scientists involved in this “creation.” Where will it lead? Quite apparently, no one really knows. Some say AI needs humans to function; others say it will act independently.
While the Bible is somewhat silent on this subject, we cannot help but quote from Revelation 13, where we read of the appearance of Antichrist and the false prophet. We notice that the Antichrist receives his power and authority from the dragon. About the false prophet, the difference is: “he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon” (Revelation 13:11b). That is also confirmed in verse 14, and verse 15 reads: “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”
While the false prophet has the power, it is the image that causes “that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Revelation 13:15b).
This is a manmade machine capable of detecting those who truly worship the image and those who do not. It is our opinion that artificial intelligence will play a major role in the coming days. To what extent and how, we dare not utter our opinion, but we do know from Scripture that mankind wants to create his own god.
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
