Why I Distrust AI But Still Use It

I used Notion AI (artificial intelligence) to write last week's boring post. It saved me maybe an hour of time, and once I completed it, my writing frequency declined because I knew I wouldn't have to sweat over an article for another week. Artificial intelligence had invaded my creative world and begun to conquer. But no worries, I now have the upper hand and am back. Last week, you heard AI’s “thoughts” on AI; this week, you get to hear my thoughts on AI. And just saying, you may occasionally hear my thoughts on me, but don’t expect to hear AI’s “thoughts” on me.

You Probably Already Use AI

I do not believe artificial intelligence is inherently evil. If you are reading this post, you are probably sending and receiving data packets from the World Wide Web. Artificial intelligence is built on these data packets. Following are examples of applications that intrinsically use AI: Google search, Amazon, YouTube, Siri, Alexa, Google Translate, and computer chess games.

What exactly is artificial intelligence? It is not a Hollywood-style fleet of robots that are taking over humanity—at least not yet. AI is machine intelligence. Lifeless computers are fed enough data that they spit out humanoid results. Massive amounts of code undergird this process—ironically a human creation. Currently, AI performs task like speech recognition, translation, transcription, artistic creations, and data analysis. In November 2022, ChatGPT leaped onto the Internet stage and began to hammer traditional knowledge work. Now, many question its ethical future.

Artificial Misunderstandings

When I was in Turkey recently, I used Google Translate extensively. At the airport, I downloaded Turkish and Arabic, so I could communicate where the network was down. This proved quite helpful, and I remain deeply grateful for technology like this that enhances our effectiveness.

Google Translate, however, does not accurately communicate nuances of language and subtleties of grammar. For example, I have no control over whether it translates God as Tanri or Allah, which carry different theological connotations in Islam. On a high-speed train ride across Turkey, I used Google Translate to communicate with a young seatmate for nearly two hours. Every so often, we would look at each other and laugh, remembering that we actually could talk. Then, we would bury our nose in our phones to continue the discussion. Because I didn't trust Google Translate’s algorithms, I frequently revised my input to get my point across.

When my new friend and I parted, we shelved any artificial misunderstandings and communicated like real people do. We looked at each other, said words in our own language, gestured with our hands, and laughed. We understood.

Where Will Artificial Intelligence Take Us?

In this post, I will not address fears of humanoid robots eventually controlling us. But artificial intelligence is improving. What will we do when translation services become so nearly perfect that we feel we can trust them more than a human? Here is what I fear will happen—we will have far less incentive to learn other languages. Face-to-face cross-cultural communication will yield to a phone mediator. This is better than no communication, but far from ideal.

These concerns are representative of my general concerns with AI. I fear it will shortcut the learning process. A shortcut is not bad, but it is harmful if it keeps us from real learning. At this point, AI enhances platforms, adapting the process to our learning progress and style. But we still must put in significant work to make real progress. Will there come a day when AI does our actual learning? Maybe it is already here. When is the last time you had a question but did a quick Google Search that you soon forgot instead of embracing the work of learning?

What especially concerns me is AI's shortcut to the creative process. We are made in the image of our creative God. This means we are made to create. Some of us express this through art and literature, others through innovation and scientific discoveries. Some carry an innate talent to start a project wherever they go, while others are incredibly good at forging friendships. But artificial intelligence is starting to replace this.

Now, I can create a blog post with AI. And while your "AI detector" may sniff it out, the works of machines may soon be indistinguishable from human works. AI in relationships is quite scary to think about. Anyone with enough computer skills, regardless of their relational skills, can set up a system to find compatible friendships on social media and Internet chatrooms. Maybe crisis responders can use this to network with other responders, but human traffickers can also use it to find victims on social media.

This is one of my deepest concerns with AI—using it for evil. Artificial intelligence in face, voice, and gait recognition opens a terrifying world of surveillance capability that we already see being implemented across China. Law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and private investigators use AI. Everything posted online, including this article, can be scraped by data collection and analysis systems. Bad actors can use the internet more powerfully than they could a decade ago.

I do not believe we can purge AI from our digital landscape. Even if authorities remove platforms like ChatGPT from the Internet, evil men will continue to develop and access their own systems. How should we respond to artificial intelligence? If you choose to disuse every application that harnesses AI, you have my respect. However, I think it is slightly inconsistent to use the Internet while disusing AI, which is at this stage a merely advanced version of the Internet. If you are reading this article, you probably use the Internet and tell yourself you will only use it for good. You can say the same of AI.

Do Not Fear

Currently, I use AI for research and outlining. I ask it to write an outline and an essay on a particular subject, which it takes about fifteen seconds to do so. Then, I use the results to inform my current project. I have not yet experimented with many other uses, but I hope to use AI for transcription, translation, and complex planning. Once, it has helped me brainstorm and outline a project, the real work belongs to me. I still own the creative process and will not outsource to artificial intelligence. If I am asked to give a speech, I will prepare myself. If I write an article or book, I must still exert blood, sweat, and tears to create the masterpiece. We still live in a real world, and we need real people to do real work. Do not fear; this will always be a real world.