Yuval Noah Harari, a leading author and historian claimed that AI-powered ChatGPT is fast approaching its ability to write new religions texts. Harari said that with the ‘gaining mastery’ of language, generative AI such as ChatGPT may have a vast effect on aspects of culture. At the Frontiers Forum event in Switzerland, Harari spoke of the potential of cults and religions whose sacred texts are written by a non-human intelligence becoming reality in the near future.
Elon Musk, who is an expert in the field of artificial intelligence, and most recently, Geoffrey Hinton, commonly known as the ‘Godfather of AI’, have warned of the potential dangers posed by AI. In an interview with the New York Times, Hinton said that he “regrets his work on AI because of the potential dangers arising from developments in this field”.
With the advances being made in the development of AI, Harari has warned “We need to act quickly before AI gets out of our control”. He believes that AI holds the potential to “cocoon us in a Matrix-like world of illusions”, with “bad actors” like Vladimir Putin possibly unleashing a dangerous AI upon the world.
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence platform for natural language generation based on a transformer-based language model. The platform has been used for various purposes ranging from creating videos to writing fantasy stories. Recently, the company has been making waves due to its potential to write texts in the form of a new religion. With the advancements in the technology, religion may soon take a new form.
Geoffrey Hinton, who is a renowned Canadian cognitive psychologist, is credited for his work in the field of artificial intelligence. He is the inventor of the backpropagation algorithm which is a significant part of artificial neural networks. He has also won the 2018 A.M. Turing Award, which is considered to be the highest honor in the field of computer science. However, despite his successes, he has warned of the potentially perilous consequences of artificial intelligence and has taken a step back from his involvement in Google’s AI development team.
As technology rapidly advances, it is increasingly important to keep the potential of AI in mind. Harari’s warnings demonstrate the massive potential for AI to have a huge influence which could have major implications for humanity. As developers, authorities and public figures work to create a more secure and responsible relationship with AI, we must always remain vigilant.
