Does AI Machine Learning Threaten Human Meaning?

During a casual post-Covid reunion, my friend Frankie and I moved through our lives in conversation. I enjoy how dialogue evolves in dreamlike patterns that blend and transmute; Frankie is an Australian filmmaker who is deeply reflective and studies metaphysics and Machine Learning. Between sips of her highly personalized protein shake, she sliced open an avocado and ate the seedless half like a peach. Then she said, “I was reading the other day that suicide is among the top ten leading causes of death in America. Isn’t that crazy?”  My response was a tad colder than I intended. Flippant. This surprised me as I have been impacted by suicide on far too many occasions. “Well, suicide has always been a leading contender for taking human life.”  “But don’t you think it’s getting worse? I think the advent of AI is making it worse.” Pushing back, “What do you mean? Not sure I’d agree with that.” “ Well, you have to consider it, right? Humans are meaning-makers. So imagine you can put a five-word prompt into AI Machine Learning, and a few minutes later it spits out a piece of art that would have taken you hours, if not months, to make. And let’s say you got a Masters of Fine Art, your livelihood is art, and suddenly the foundation of how you identify as a person — as an artist — and what you thought you were put on the earth to do has been taken away from you.  It’s been altered. Okay, I am not saying your purpose as a human has been stripped to the bone, but the way you relate to your own humanity has changed. I think there is conversation to be had around how people are managing that. I do think there is something intangible that makes us uniquely human that a machine can not approach, and we need to understand what makes us different. I think we have some desperate work to do in preserving ourselves.”

I had to think about what she said for a second while still holding onto my doubt.  I have no experience with AI, and was asking myself, is Alexa AI? I needed to buy some time so I said, “That’s interesting…” Meanwhile Frankie picked up her phone, short attention spans, you know how they work. I continued, “I hear what you’re saying, but I wonder if AI is the root cause of the spike in suicides. Nietzsche said– “Human beings are the only species that has to be encouraged to live,” and that was long before AI existed.”

After a few minutes of thumb-scrolling, Frankie held up her phone to show me her screen. 

AI Machine Learning art by:  Joshua Levine

 “What is that?” I asked. “It’s amazing.” “It’s art created with AI Machine Learning.” I honestly did think the art is fascinating. I’d buy it. She continued, “We’re being displaced. Not just on a mechanical level, but on every level…spiritually, emotionally…there is displacement going on of the human being. We are literally creating an intelligent, sentient construct that is going to operate separately and yet alongside of us and it will be a lot better than us.”

Another wave of silence swept over us, my doubt is wavering and I suddenly recalled a story I read about a man in a tsunami holding onto his eight year old son for dear life as they are being swept down a tumultuous flooded street. His only mission was to hold onto his son. Then moments later he realized his son was no longer in his arms. Dreamlike patterns. How does that reflection relate? It must. I quickly come up with justifications and then come back to the present conversation.

“AI will never replace or alter our ability to connect with one another.”  “Thank God!” she exclaimed, as if truly relieved at the discovery. I add, “I think as long as we have companionship, we will be okay. We will continue to inspire one another and give each other something to live for. That is our dominion over AI.”  Without missing a beat Frankie looked me in the eye and said,  “Maybe… think about it though. We tried to control nature and that’s become a problem. I just see us careening towards this sentient thing that we are creating and there really is too much we don’t understand. That is dangerous. The Bible says, “’In the beginning was Logos’ which means, ‘At the beginning of everything, there was the entity we know as God, who embodied and created life and the rational principle on which everything is founded.’ Now it’s our turn. ‘In the beginning there was AI…’”