Warning over AI ‘deception’

An international machine-learning expert has warned of the dangers of “anthropomorphising” artificial intelligence (AI) machines, saying guardrails must be built to prevent humans – particularly children and teens – from being deceived.

Lord Lionel Tarassenko, speaking at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion on whether artificial general intelligence (AGI) is compatible with a Christian worldview, stated: “[Humans] physically experience pain and joy. An AGI chatbot cannot, although some humans can be fooled into believing it can.”

He highlighted the theological concept of imago dei which goes all the way back to Genesis: “We are created in the image of God … While AI has sophisticated reasoning abilities and the capacity to fool human beings, a machine has no thoughts or feelings or awareness and only produces simulations of emotions, not natural experiences or understanding. Therefore, you cannot reproduce the image of God in its silicon.”

He offered four Christian perspectives on AI. First, designing machines that will “serve and enhance human life” rather than creating a machine “as smart as a human” as an end in itself. We must also build AGI that does not claim to have experiences, feelings or emotions. Lord Tarassenko added: “It must not trigger human empathy circuits by asserting that it suffers or that it wishes to have an autonomous existence.”

He said distorted views of AGI should be called out. “For instance, there is a self-perpetuating hype that people are believing the technology and what it can do for us. The AGI technology has become God. Faith in technology has replaced faith in God.”

But he said we must not “exit” because of the dangers, rather, “it is very important for Christian believers to be involved in AGI which aligns with our beliefs.” He added: “A Christian perspective will give us clear differentiation between human beings because of imago dei and intelligent machines. We have to fight against this constant danger of anthropomorphising these machines… and build guardrails to prevent human beings from being deceived. This is particularly important for teenagers or children who use this technology.”