‘Human-Centered AI’: How Should the Church Engage With Emerging Artificial Intelligence Technologies?

[Michie]

Father Phillip Larrey, a leading Catholic expert in the area, discusses AI’s promises and perils.

The March 2023 introduction of GPT-4, the chatbot developed by the research lab OpenAI, has sparked enormous excitement — and great anxiety about the latest advances in artificial intelligence, or AI.

In response to questions and inputs from users, ChatGPT-4 can converse and write poetry like a human. In minutes, it can spin out college-level essays on an endless array of topics — though details can be wrong. It can write and correct computer code, and supply work products that may soon threaten the livelihoods of lawyers, accountants and journalists.

But in a March 2023 “open letter,” top technologists warned that this promising instrument posed “profound risks to society and humanity.” The signers called on “all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.”

In May 2023, a second high-profile letterunderscored the need for urgent action by government regulators and the tech sector.

Continued below.

‘Human-Centered AI’: How Should the Church Engage With Emerging Artificial Intelligence Technologies?

Father Phillip Larrey, a leading Catholic expert in the area, discusses AI’s promises and perils.

www.ncregister.com

 

[Bob Crowley]

If I ever get asked to write a homily or sermon, now I know where I can go!

 

[Bob Crowley]

On a more serious note, it's not the technology itself that is the problem. It is the perennial misuse of such technologies.

Computers have made access to banking a much easier process. When I was young you needed to get to a bank to get anything done, and the hours in Australia were quite restrictive. If I remember rightly banks opened at 10am and closed at 3pm - well, the Commonwealth Bank did and it was the biggest. I could pay by cheque of course, but that took time and occasionally they got lost in the mail.

Now I just get on the computer and do a transfer or BPay payment in a couple of minutes.

At the same time it's provided a field day for scammers and criminals.

Australians report record $3.1bn losses to scams, with real amount even higher, ACCC says

Investment fraud amounts for biggest share at $1.5bn, followed by remote access and payment redirection rorts

www.theguardian.com

Australians lost a record amount of more than $3.1bn to scams in 2022, up from the $2bn lost in 2021, a new report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has revealed.

With a population of about 25 million, that's an average of about 124 dollars per person. Of course most people lose nothing, but some lose everything.

“Scammers evolve quickly and unfortunately, many Australians are losing their life savings,” Lowe said.

You can bet your bottom dollar organised crime will find a way to use AI.