Title: Q&A

By Fr. Paul Robinson, SSPX

Is it immoral to use artificial intelligence?

As in so many other instances in which it is used in modern English, the word “artificial” in the phrase “artificial intelligence” means “not real.” AI mimics intelligence but does not—and can never have—the essence of what intelligence is. It does some of the things that are associated with intelligence—remember, compare, store, and compute—but it does not think, that is, it does not form immaterial concepts or make rational judgments.

As such, in the phrase “artificial intelligence,” we use “intelligence” in the same sense as a man, referring to his dog, might say “My labrador is very intelligent.” The labrador has a keen memory, responds well to commands, learns quickly from experience—things that are related to intelligence. This merits him being referred to as “intelligent,” but it does not mean that he has an immaterial intellect that is capable of forming universal concepts from sense impressions, that is, that he possesses the very essence of what it means to be intelligent.

Man will never be able to communicate real intelligence to his artifacts because of the metaphysical limitations under which he works as a created agent. As creatures, we are only able to take things as they are, with their material form and natural capacities, and work them into something else. We are not able to create beings; we are only able to make things from already created beings.

Another way to express this is to say that man only has power over matter; he has no power over form. We can take material parts and assemble them into some new thing. But we cannot communicate an immaterial principle to that thing which unifies all of its material parts to make it one being, one substance. We can, for instance, cobble together all manner of complex parts in the form of a car, such that all of those parts will serve the purpose of moving the car from point A to point B. But we cannot communicate to the car a soul that will make every part of the car be animated from a single, immaterial principle.

Because of this, despite the plethora of science fiction movies and novels that portray it, there will never be computers or robots that possess human intelligence. They will always be unthinking tools.

That being said, today’s technology has taken the mimicking of intelligence to a very sophisticated level. ChatGPT is writing research papers, poems, and essays. Computer algorithms are suggesting products for purchase that seem to be taken from our very thought. Robots are able to carry on conversations at a basic level.

This is why you will frequently see language about AI surpassing human intelligence or reaching human-level reasoning. This language does not understand immaterial thought but rather sees thinking and reasoning only in terms of computing.

Because AI, at its essence, is merely a computer program which blindly performs the instructions put into it by a computer engineer, its morality must be judged in the same way as other human tools. Just as a knife can be used for cutting vegetables or killing an innocent human, so too computer programs can be wielded for good ends and for bad ends.

Unfortunately, we live today in a world that does not hold to Catholic principles of morality or even principles of natural law morality. This, coupled with the fact that advanced technology such as AI places much greater power in the hands of human beings, opens up the possibility for AI being used for great evil. The more powerful that technology becomes, the more virtuous its users must be to use it well. This is even truer for AI than it is for the Internet.

Examples of evil use of AI would be robots/machines being used as weapons for the killing of the innocent, as tools for sexual pleasure, and as generators of fake but believable news reels about real people. Perhaps the darkest of all would be the attempted use of AI for the purposes of transhumanism, to make a higher species of human that is enhanced through a partial mechanization of the human body.

Even abstracting from these dark scenarios or milder ones such as students using AI to do their homework, the increased capacities of AI over time will likely result in the greater dependence of human beings on their own machines. Humans will be replaced by robots at many jobs. Human IQ is likely to continue to fall, as it has since 1975, because of the many crutches assisting humans to avoid real thinking. Interaction with screens, including ones attached to the body, are likely to increase.

All of these things, while not being sinful in themselves, lead to sin. The reason for this is that whatever takes us away from God’s reality makes us less capable of living in and following His reality. We are meant to carry our cross daily in the imitation of Christ, but technology tries to remove all need of effort. It takes a noble soul to strive for holiness, but greater dependence on machines often makes for greater mediocrity.

In the end, the outlook for artificial intelligence is not good. It will always remain artificial but will progressively extend the powers of fallen human beings. As it does so, it will increase the temptation for men to use their technology for evil purposes. The only thing that can prevent this is the grace that comes from Our Lord, because that alone can effectively counteract our inclination to evil.

Title: Christ the Teacher