A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article titled “Authority is Dead, So Am I Even Human?”, and even I didn’t know how relevant an article about humanity and feeling like a robot might be even three weeks later. In fact, only four days after I wrote that article, headlines around the globe were running rampant about a new chatbot called ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer). At the most basic level, ChatGPT is a computer program that has been trained through positive reinforcement to write text like a human person. This is to say that ChatGPT is a program that learns by reading text, writing text, and by getting feedback about how to write convincingly. And it has become quite convincing. So convincing in fact, that middle school, high school, and college teachers nearly had a melt down at the start of this semester. Most of the news broke around January 6th, 2023, as they were returning from winter break.[1] Can you imagine coming back from winter break, ready to get the school year started again, only to find out that all of your students could easily cheat and bypass every assignment? I imagine the mathematics teachers are shaking their heads. Calculators have been around for quite a while, after all.
Immediately, multiple camps sprang up. There are those on the defensive, rejecting the software, and trying to figure out how they can catch students, or prevent them from using it by making student’s use laptops with limited internet access[2], or not allowing them to use computers at all. Indeed, even before the news broke, another researcher[3], 22 year old Edward Tian, developed his own AI (Articifical Intelligence) to scan papers and determine if they are made by a program like ChatGPT, a sort of AI police system, which some educators have considered using and which seems reasonably successful.
On the other side, some professors are considering how to integrate ChatGPT as another resource or tool, in the same way mathematics has integrated the calculator. These professors are changing their curriculums, sometimes on the fly, week by week, to accommodate the new reality. If students are going to have access to these things, there’s no good way to stop them. It’s only a matter of time before powerful tools like these become mainstream. Rather than fight the river, how about we divert it and use it?
Of course, many educators will inevitably fall somewhere in the middle, or may bury their heads, trying to pretend this isn’t a problem because they don’t want to deal with it. All of the responses are somewhat justified, and now that we are in the wild west of AI (Artificial Intelligence) development, its difficult to blame educators who are, as usual, underpaid, underappreciated, and overworked. Especially when the people at the very top of the field are just as neck deep in the weeds as the rest of us.
Before, new technological advancements may have changed dynamics for the people on the cutting edge, but these changes would be gradually filtered down to a viable, controlled piece of tech. Hardware had to be concepted, designed, engineered, tested, redesigned, tested again, then mass produced and distributed at an affordable cost before it ever reached the average user. But that was hardware, now we live in an era where tech advancements are just as often software, and software can just be released on the global internet, and immediately billions of people have access to it. That’s the thing about new technology, it doesn’t just disrupt the theories of the experts, it disrupts people at every level on the system.
Speaking of which, am I about to be fired? No, seriously, creators at every level are looking at ChatGPT right now and wondering about a career change. And if you’re thinking, “Well, a computer program can’t create, it just smushes some words around. It can’t make anything original.” Let me tell you why that’s wrong, and why people at every level of industry, especially artists, may have their careers in jeopardy.
First, let’s challenge the assertion that AI can’t create original work. It is true that, currently, the AI that exist use human created work as the foundation of their own work. They take our writing, our music, and our art to create new compositions. These are composite works, stitched together pieces of other artists. But let’s be honest, most of the art we read and consume, even when it’s made by humans, isn’t that different from what I just described. It really is rare to come across an original work, and even when we do, we can typically trace the lineage of inspiration that brought it to creation.
Also, from a consumer stand point, I don’t think human authorship matters, and like I just said, I don’t even think originality matters. People don’t consume media that is original, they consume media that they like, media that is comfortable. Of course, there will always be those people who have a deep craving for originality, in fact, I’d like to think I’m one of those people, but pardon me for being a bit pessimistic about the average media consumer. Even I routinely enjoy the average movie or show that just asks me to turn my brain off and be entertained.
Second, let’s take a look at other industries. I’m no expert on the manufacturing industry, but we certainly all recognize how disruptive automation has been. Whether it’s sending jobs overseas for cheaper labor, or replacing line workers with machines, companies will chase the bottom line. We live in a system that incentivizes capital, and you won’t hear me tell you that’s inherently wrong, but I can tell you it means that the argument for automation being immoral looks mighty weak to shareholders. But why should we limit our talk to factory jobs? There used to be a time when translation was a viable business. Translating human text and speech from one language to another is a hard skill to learn, and extremely valuable in our globalized world. Or it was, before Google translate. This free, easy to access service has seriously hurt the translation industry. We can attest to the fact that in our own office, where translation is largely handled by automated services like Google Translate. And why not? It’s faster, free, and mostly reliable. See, I told you I’m going to get fired.
Consider the confluence of multiple of these programs working together. Currently there are other AI models that can create images by deconstructing and stitching together images from a large stockpile of human created ones. Websites like OpenArt.ai[4] allows the user to type in any prompt, and it will generate an image for you. Similar programs exist for generating music, and some can even compile a repository of voice clips to recreate an entire human sound spectrum. World famous Darth Vader actor James Earl Jones has recently signed the rights to his voice away to be AI generated so Star Wars fan never need to hear Mr. Jones be replaced.[5] Combine this impressive set of AI feats with what we just talked about, the ability of an AI to write a script, and suddenly an AI could write, create, and produce an entire original Star Wars movie, at almost no cost. The last Star Wars movie cost Disney an estimated 275 million.[6]
Another key point to be made here is the fact that not only does AI have the capability to take over large sections of the work force, but it can only do so (based on current learning models) by co-opting and reusing the work of humans. This adds a bit of extra salt in the wound. If an AI ends up “stealing your job,” how much worse is it knowing that it was only able to do your job, because it piggybacked off of, or outright stole the work of people like you? James Earl Jones signed his rights away for his voice to be used by an AI. But there’s a massive uproar going on right now at Adobe[7] (a company that makes creative software) because they’ve snuck in a clause that must be manually opted out of, which allows them to analyze an artist's work to enhance their AI models.
At this point you might be asking why your church denomination is writing about this. What does this have to do with God? No, I’m not about to ask you if AIs have souls, but I am going to ask you what the proper Christian response is to a world that seems destined to deprive people of work? I’m sitting here wracking my brain to think of professions which cannot be automated. I guess we could all become computer programmers, but even then, these programs are self-learning. They just need to be fed data and off they go. Of course, medical professionals, and plenty of other complicated, nuanced physical jobs are much harder to automate. Counselors, teachers, and even Pastors are jobs that are inherently relational, and most people struggle to relate to a machine.
Maybe this isn’t a problem. Maybe automated tech like this is just a fad. But I would wager a guess (I don’t actually gamble) that this isn’t the case. The expediency of AI is going to put a large amount of people out of work, and the jobs that are safe are going to dwindle. This opens the door to questions that I’m truly, woefully under equipped to even venture into. Questions about how an economic system stabilizes with rampant unemployment? Or if a universal basic income starts to become not a political decision, but a reactional safety net for those people whose entire job sector vanished because of AI?
At the cross roads of faith and work, I keep thinking about the profound meaning so many people get out of their careers and work, and what people will do if that’s taken away from them. Many of us buy into Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic, the idea that God has made us to be uniquely gifted, and that we can use those gifts to serve His Kingdom, whether that’s in ministry, or in the public sector. What happens if those gifts are no longer financially viable?
Many people are experiencing a certain waywardness in life right now, and it’s the Church's job to step in and offer them meaning and fulfillment in Christ. So too will the Church have to step in and remind people that their ultimate worth is not in their occupation, but in being a child of God. Likewise, the Church’s solid foundation and God-centered worldview will be needed for people who find themselves facing the shifting sands of life. The breakneck pace of change we’re seeing in our culture has the effect of blowing people around like paper in a hurricane, and yet Christ has the power to ground us in mutual care for each other. Christ asks us to build a culture that seeks first the Kingdom of God, and in doing so, asks us to seek out not machines, but people. I don’t see a world where we just stop making new innovations, but we must do it in ways that honor God, and restore people.
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[1] https://apnews.com/article/what-is-chat-gpt-ac4967a4fb41fda31c4d27f015e32660
[2] https://www.gizchina.com/2023/01/20/chatgpt-effect-how-to-prevent-students-from-cheating-copying/
[3] https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2023/01/17/1149206188/this-22-year-old-is-trying-to-save-us-from-chatgpt-before-it-changes-writing-for
[4] https://openart.ai/
[5] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/james-earl-jones-is-retiring-from-playing-the-voice-of-darth-vader-180980848/
[6] https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-175-million-box-office-cats-1202198932/
[7] https://www.dpreview.com/news/6341509927/adobes-content-analysis-program-raises-privacy-concern
CGGC eNews—Vol. 17, No. 4
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