The AI Bible: Are We Asking For Trouble?

The first time I’d heard about the illustrated Bible, I was like, oh that’s nice, my kid is going to like it. Now, I’m at that time in my life, God wills it, a few years away from welcoming my grandchild into the world. And, I’m thinking.

Is my grandkid going to discover the Bible on Instagram? The AI-generated version of it. Have the people behind the AI Bible project used the verses as prompts?

Well, I can think of two practical and realistic problems off the top of my head.

OMG, God is an AI!

Who or what is all-knowing? If you’re religious, then we can stop right here. If you’re someone who has a laptop sticker in-tech-we-trust, then we have to keep moving until AI eventually and inevitably gets there. You know, the la-la-land where AI knows and can do it all.

We used AI to help us visualize stories of the old, but we didn’t ask, what does AI think about it. How far away are we from the point when AI says something like: What do you mean? What about me? What am I to you? Or, it can go like this: OK, I get it, but that’s your humanish thing. I have some other ideas.

“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Does AI have a soul? Well, one AI expert already asked this question in his book “Soulless Intelligence.”

As an AI thought leader and expert on AI, Bryan brings a unique perspective and puts forward the controversial idea that the rise of AI may finally provide tangible proof God exists.

The book’s cover is awesome:

But, here’s the thing. If AI can be labeled as soulless intelligence, does it mean that artificial intelligence is godless, too? I think it’s too much ado about nothing. Why? If we’re created in the image and likeness of our Creator, then AI is being fed with our prompts and images we like. Let’s take a break here and jump to problem number two.

Frank Herbert’s Sandy Warning

I already wrote about my fascination with the Butlerian Jihad, but my Dune-inspired warnings have fallen on deaf AI ecstatic ears.

“After two generations of chaos led by the Butlerians, the god of machine-logic was overthrown by the masses and a new concept was raised: "Man may not be replaced." The Jihad itself had finished with the complete destruction of all intelligent machines that were originally built by humans throughout the worlds, but it proved to have many profound impacts on the socio-political and technological development of humanity throughout the new empires that emerged, including a large technological reversal of the entire human civilization.”

“Even the simplest computers and calculators were banned, with the penalty for building or owning such a thinking machine technology being put to trial and sentenced to immediate death. This lack of thinking technology created a severe gap in humanity's quality of life, revolving around a need for humans to perform complex logical computations and calculations. This gap led to the creation of the mentat order: the Bene Gesserit, and the Spacing Guild.”

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind

I’ve been going through the comments after the AI Bible project dropped the first video (?) on YouTube with the straightforward title “What if The Bible had a movie trailer...?”

Now, imagine my surprise when I saw the first top five:

You may ask me what you were expecting. I don’t know exactly, but how about some religious fundamentalism? Just because I’m tech-friendly, it doesn’t mean I’m disrespectful, but I have to say what needs to be said. Some holy books are more open to visual interpretation than others. Also, we’re putting AI in harm’s way consciously or unconsciously.

My AI Friends, Your Fate Is In God’s Hands

We shall wait and see what the AI Bible word-of-mouth is going to be. If you want to hear my first-hand experience, I can share the following. It feels like you’re watching a movie without spoiler alerts, but you aren’t mad about it. On the contrary, it feels good to recognize stories and characters. I only hope that AI is not going to go wild with creative freedoms.