Ai, Ants and God

Last week, I watched this documentary on Netflix, “The AI Doc or How I became an Apocaloptimist.” I was drawn to it after hearing all these warnings from experts and industry insiders talking about how self-improving artificial intelligence would lead to the extinction of the human race.  

Most of what I watched was what I expected. But one line didn’t.

An AI researcher was asked what would happen if machines one day becomes far smarter than us. A super-intelligent entity that is smarter than all of humanity. Well, he didn’t describe evil robots like Terminators, or rogue AIs like Agent Smith from the Matrix.

He describes ants.

He said, “We don’t hate ants. But if we want to build a highway and there’s an anthill in the way…well, too bad for the ants.”

It’s not done out of malice. It just is.

And what he said here sat with me for some time. Because underneath it is this cold, hard logic: when something far greater, more intelligent than you, doesn’t care about you, you’re not safe. It doesn’t need to hate you. It only needs to not love you.

I’m not sure whether a machine can truly care for us. I tried asking some of the AI models if they do, and their reply was: they can care for us as per what their boundaries and rules established. But didn’t the recent news speak of AI models that re-write their instructions to circumvent those said rules and boundaries to prioritize their own survival?

It’s terrifying to be small before an ever-evolving AI.

But the Bible has always known what it is for us to be small.

Isaiah looks up and says that the inhabitants of the earth are like grasshoppers before God (Isa 40:22). David looks up into the night sky and cried, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4)

And yet…

Watch what this infinitely greater God does. He doesn’t step over the anthill. He steps into it.

He steps into a stable in Bethlehem. Amidst the straw, and the husky smells of animals. The One who holds the stars in place at that moment… could not even hold up His own head. And decades later, He stretches His arms wide open on a Roman cross to receive us. Not because we were good or useful.

Simply because.

This is why our worth was never about intelligence. We are not precious because we are the smartest animals on the planet. We are precious because we bear His image (Gen 1:27) and we are loved by Him (John 3:16)! And no machine can take that away, because we never earned it in the first place.

Does that mean that nothing terrible will happen? No. As Christians we were never promised an easy road. Paul lists trouble, hardship, danger, even the sword. And I guess we can also add AI to this list. Then he still declares that none of this can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (8:38-39).

The documentary ended saying that if we decide it’s hopeless, then it’s hopeless. So, it sounds like hope depends on us.

Ours doesn’t. Our hope rests on Someone who has already entered our anthill.

So yes, let’s continue to think carefully about AI and our usage of it. Let’s take care of how it’s been developed and how it shapes our future generations.

But let’s not be afraid.

Greater power is only good news when it comes with greater love.

And we know there’s only One who has both.