Dr Asangba Tzudir
When we look at the Strong AI hypothesis, which claims that a computer program, given the right software, could genuinely possess a mind, understanding, and consciousness, the way artificial intelligence permeates almost every sphere of life, our minds seem to be getting programmed each passing day. Many in cognitive science and AI propose that the brain is essentially a computer, and the mind is a program running on it. This analogy suggests that the brain is hardware and the mind is software.
In such a context, a question which is deeply significant arises: are we allowing ourselves to become programmed minds? When we look at technology and AI, it has brought immense convenience and efficiency saving time, energy and human resources. However, it also comes with the subtle danger of dulling and blanking the very qualities that make us human even as we become ‘helpless’ receptors of technology and AI data. Even as it operates on patterns, data, and probability, it brilliantly recognizes trends, predicts behaviors, and performs repetitive tasks faster than any human could, and beyond the fascination it also ‘enslaves’ the human mind while becoming dependent to such an extent of even seeking value judgments.
However, contrary to the human mind and consciousness, in essence, AI is programmed and so it cannot transcend the boundaries of its algorithm and design where its intelligence is borrowed and most importantly, it is dependent on human input. And so, if humans, bedazzled by the speed and accuracy of machines, rely on them for judgment, creativity, and meaning, then we risk mirroring the very limitations of the systems we built. More so, the human aspect of trust will also gradually lose its meaning in this ‘enslavement’ thereby affecting imagination and the human to human interaction interface.
In this enslavement, the young people especially the students will be affected in the sense that AI will destabilize their power of imagination. The human edge is also the power of imagination beyond patterns and programmes, ventures into the unknown while daring to dream of realities and envisage possibilities that have never existed before. Equally vital is consciousness, the seat of awareness and self-reflection, and feelings. AI may be programmed in a manner that can respond to moral dilemmas which humans endowed with the capacity to feel will be caught in the dilemma. It is the human consciousness which allows us to see and even assign meaning, value, and also take responsibility for the choices made. Surrendering our decision-making to machines means, we risk losing our wisdom, the capacity to synthesize knowledge and also the moral worthiness of being a human.
While it will be naive to frame this as a battle between humans and machines, the pressing concern is whether we will forget what makes us distinctly human from machines. Yes, students outsource from chatbots, professionals leans on algorithms without critical scrutiny, and the masses are consuming curated information without questioning the source. And so the danger does not lie in AI thinking for us but that we may stop thinking for ourselves.
The way forward demands balance where AI should be seen as a tool and not our ruler, so that humans may continue to cultivate the power of imagination, contemplate and also generate meanings where AI calculates and do analysis. It is not about outpacing the machines but sharpening our own creativity, empathy, morality and wisdom. While we are a free and conscious being capable of imagining, questioning, we should not let AI diminish us into programmed minds.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes a weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
