Dave Brat writes for the Federalist about a major flaw in artificial intelligence.
According to a recent report, the White House is set to start using artificial intelligence to write new transportation regulations. It’s no longer a question whether this technology will have power over our lives — that moment has arrived.
As its influence grows, AI will be the source of even more heated political debates. Some on the left are horrified about the lack of DEI and the hateful expression in AI, while the White House has claimed it is too woke. Some say AI is scraping from predominantly Western sources, so it is too Western. Some Christians are horrified by the implications of what happens when you ask generative AI moral and spiritual questions, while others seriously argue that AI can be an ethical counselor and decisionmaker. The AI debates, be they political or moral, are all framed around competing assertions of truth.
As such, the best way bring order and understanding to such a seismic technological shift is to evaluate the potential consequences according to the long-standing Christian tradition of faith and reason. On a superficial level, it would appear AI debates mirror the culture wars, but I think they track some modern philosophical and religious conflicts that go much deeper.
After the Bible, I find Allan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind one of the most important texts for defining our current ideological predicament. Bloom’s attack on “openness” and modern ethical relativism is rooted in Plato’s attempt to ground ideas in Knowledge claims. Bloom is in search of Truth. AI is not. Bloom does not agree with the modern left that objectivity is, itself, culturally and ideologically coded – yet, this is how AI algorithms are literally coded. It’s also impossible to imagine Jesus or St. Augustine would agree with this worldview, and Christians should aim for God’s objective truth in all they do. AI clearly does not aim for God.
