Disciples, Apostles, and Saints!
An AI researcher quit the business this week, warning of the dangers they predict are coming. Other researchers are leaving the industry because of ethical problems they observe. Meanwhile, there seems to be a direct connection between age and support, with the young having the greatest disapproval.
There are more aspects of the conversation than can be had in this space, some of which I’ve written about before, including the negative and sustained cognitive impact of the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Claude, the economic impact of an industry intending to destroy millions of jobs, and the ethical problem of using stolen goods as training data. We could also speak to the institutional problem of using LLMs to generate material that we therefore cannot own or the ease with which we can produce material that is becoming increasingly invisible because it looks like everything else. And honestly, those AI flyers are just spammy and ugly.
The more time we spend in the middle of Matthew’s gospel, where Jesus keeps talking about relationships, the more I notice what he’s not talking about: optimization, growth, efficiency, speed, perfection, skill, etc. He doesn’t speak of markets or being left behind or having a computer write an email. And not just because computers didn’t exist two thousand years ago. He is talking about sin as a relationship issue, not a problem to be solved with a singular solution. He talks about forgiveness as a relationship process and a means of restoration. That it doesn’t just begin and ends with people, it is only relationship.
There are no shortcuts. No having an LLM craft an apology so we just have to hit send. All we have is people, each other. That’s the work and the point of the work.
With love,
Drew+
