AI and the Extinction of Humanity

Today we are taking a short break from The Parables. For the next 5 podcasts, we are going to address the elephant in the room. And actually, the elephant is responding back! Let me explain.

I think in the last month especially, but longer if you’re paying attention, there is growing concern that AI could end humanity.

You’ve heard the fatalistic predictions. Artificial intelligence will outthink us, outwork us, and one day decide it no longer needs us. Some of the people saying it aren’t fringe voices. They’re the scientists and executives building these systems, and a few of them say openly that they’re afraid of what they’re making.

So, we’ve gathered what many of the top minds on the subject are saying, on both sides of the argument. You’ll hear from the researchers who believe AI could end the human race, and from the skeptics who think the fear is overblown or the whole industry is a bubble waiting to pop. I’ve tried to give each side a fair hearing and to check their claims against the record, not just repeat them. We’ve compiled this information and interrogated the elephant in the room, the AI itself.

But then I’ve done something that may raise an eyebrow for some. I’ve taken the question to a source most books on AI never consult.

If your faith is solid, you already know that resource, The Bible. It doesn’t mention artificial intelligence or quantum computers, of course. But it has a great deal to say about the things underneath them: the human heart, the ambition to build something that reaches to heaven, the pull of a single world system, who controls buying and selling, and how the human story actually ends. It answers our questions, at least indirectly, more directly than you might expect.

So this isn’t just another opinion on whether AI dooms us. It does two things. First, it lays out the evidence from both sides of the debate. Then it asks one question of every claim: what does the Bible say? I’ve tried to read the text the way the Bereans did, who “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). That means letting Scripture say what it says, and being honest about where it speaks plainly and where we’re only drawing inferences.

The answers give a perspective you won’t find in the headlines or other podcasts. For me, they’ve settled much of my own equivocation on the subject. I hope they do the same for you.

Today is part 1 of a 5 part series. It starts with the question on the table: Will AI End the Human Race.

Notes for Part 1: https://50b.us/AI-The-End-Of-Humanity

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