Since the release of ChatGPT a little over a year ago, many have posed the question: What makes us human? It’s turned over many times in my own mind. Pondering this deeply, I’ve decided that what makes us human is the same as what makes us animal. We may be different from computers in certain important ways, but in those areas of distinction from machines, we are much like non-human animals. I think that’s a wonderful thing! For most of modern history, humanity was elevated for the feats of our intelligence. But most things the human mind is capable of are, as it turns out, things AI can do as well. Not only in cogitating but in creating. In its creativity, AI is derivative, yet so, arguably, are humans.
The more complicated question addresses how humans stand apart from AI.
In this regard, two aspects of humanness stand out to me. The first, naturally, is love. Computers may fool us into thinking they love, as they can be programmed to sound and act very much like they do. They will only get better at this. Experts suggest that most people who are younger today (not to mention older people) will have close friendships, even intimate relationships, with AI in the not-too-distant future. But AI don’t feel the discomfort pain elation pride, or any of the panoply of emotions that give contour to the experience of love. AI don’t love.
The second thing distinguishing AI from humans is in how they create…. {Read remainder of article on Patheos HERE.}