What To Think About AI
Recently, I’ve heard people who claim to be in the know make predictions about how AI (Artificial Intelligence) will change life in the future. Specifically, I’ve heard claims that AI will do many of the jobs that we humans now do.
Some people I respect, particularly those in the arts, are alarmed at the coming of AI. Others, who seem to be among the richest and most powerful, are excited by this prospect. Of course, these are only predictions. Reality twenty years from now might be different from what we expect.
I am among the majority who don’t know enough about AI to be either excited or frightened. That doesn’t stop me from wondering what my grandchildren’s futures will be like.
I wonder how the economy will run. If AI will do many of the current jobs, what will our grandchildren as adults be doing? How will they get paid and for what?
The reformer Martin Luther once stated that God gave humans work to do to give meaning to time itself. When applied to AI’s possible future, Luther’s observation brings up the issue of boredom. Think of how Americans currently deal with free time. We play video games, watch sports, bet on sports, and in other ways live on the internet. On the darker side, addiction is another way many deal with boredom. If AI “frees up” even more hours in the week for our children and grandchildren, perhaps time itself will become a problem.
Then again, we should remember that we’ve heard the prediction of more free time before. We heard that claim with the invention of numerous household products. We also heard it with the advent of personal computers. The irony is that with these time-saving advances, our lives have gotten increasingly more frenetic. Many of us know that a full-time job isn’t a forty-hour week, but one that stretches to sixty and even seventy hours. Could AI bring a similar surprise?
But there are other possibilities. Last week, my wife invited me to watch a program that featured an artist who makes paper in the traditional Japanese manner. The process was slow, very slow, but also mesmerizing. What I was watching seemed the opposite of AI.
That’s when it hit me. The 18th century Industrial Revolution devastated traditional arts. How many of us have taught our children to knit, weave, throw a pot, or build a fishing rod from scratch? The additional free time promised by AI might lead to a resurgence of traditional arts, and that will bring a resurgence of beauty. Why do I say this? Because humans will always need to be challenged and will always yearn for fulfillment. It’s in our DNA.