Demon Seed is a scary 1977 film about a super artificial intelligence getting carried away with its own power. The system, called “Proteus IV”, traps the wife of its inventor in her computerised home and persuades her to conceive a child from spermatozoa that it has created, through a process of artificial insemination (AI using AI...). The film ends with the computer self-destructing, leaving a child who speaks with the voice of Proteus – what we might describe as an artificial incarnation (AI from AI using AI…), given Proteus was the name of a Greek, shape-shifting god.
As far as I know, no-one has claimed to have achieved anything like this science fiction story in real life, or even to know how it could be done. However, in the past week Sam Altman from OpenAI has spoken about his dependence upon AI for handling a new born:
“Clearly, people have been able to take care of babies without ChatGPT for a long time. I don’t know how I would’ve done that.”
Now, this is hardly the same thing as Proteus. Sam is just using ChatGPT as a searcher and summariser of Internet discussions and articles on child raising. But is that wise? In the first place, there is the danger of AI hallucinations where the model will simply make up ideas. In the second place, because the advice is coming through a summariser, you don’t know how much you can trust it since it’s mostly anonymous and is based not on careful research but the statistical probabilities of conversations. So ChatGPT may prioritise advice which has been discussed heavily on forums, but which isn’t necessarily the best advice you could receive. Of course, one would like to think that Sam – of all people – is most aware of the weaknesses of AI systems.
Link: Sam Altman constantly asked ChatGPT questions about his newborn
Another example of AI being involved in child-rearing was mentioned by the man interviewing Sam. He described a parent who got bored of repetitive discussions with his child about simple topics. So the parent put ChatGPT into voice mode and had it discuss the topics – Thomas the Tank Engine in particular – with the little one. ChatGPT doesn’t get bored, so the toddler was enthralled for an hour and the adult could relax; Sam replied that kids love the bot’s voice mode. The article goes on to comment on how ChatGPT’s own policies recommend it not be used by young children and that there are no parental vetting controls provided. On top of which, no-one knows what might result from AI being involved in the raising of a child in this way.
The idea of a different, but intelligent, being producing a human child isn’t a new one. In mythology, we have examples like Hercules conceived by a god (Jupiter) and a woman (Alcmena). In Genesis 6,we have the strange tale of the sons of God and the daughters of men having children, which some interpret as the mixing of different beings. However, the supreme example is a joyful one. Unlike the sordid tales of mythology and the horrors of science fiction, Jesus is the eternal Son of God who becomes a man in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) so that two natures are found in one person. And there’s nothing artificial about that. It was all planned from the beginning by the Triune Creator who made man in His image (Genesis 1:27) so that we could share an eternal home (John 14:2). Jesus is true incarnation, and that’s wondrous.
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Introduction to this series of posts
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