Perlis’s statement carries a deep and profound implication about the nature of AI. Put simply, Perlis implies that delving into AI can lead to a transformative experience that could make one contemplate the existence of a divine being. The complexity, creativity, and intelligence of AI may push individuals to confront profound questions about consciousness, existence, and the essence of intelligence itself.

In today’s world, AI is no longer a technology of the future. It is seamlessly integrated into every sphere of our lives, from recommendation engines in streaming services like Netflix and Amazon, to navigation systems, smart home devices, and voice-activated assistants like Siri and Alexa.

At the recent Tesla “We, Robot” event, Elon Musk demonstrated the potential of AI in developing innovative products such as autonomous taxis, vans, and humanoid robots (Optimus). These humanoid robots are engineered to perform a wide range of daily tasks, including walking, babysitting, grocery shopping, and lawn mowing.

In the future, AI will be performing most of our blue-collar and white-collar jobs. This is what we are observing today with Mid Journey and ChatGPT. These AI technologies that simulate human intelligence and creativity are causing people to experience an existential crisis. In some way, they force us to reconsider what is unique and valuable about us in an era dominated by AI.

Modern society often equates personal worth with the ability to generate economic value. So, when AI starts to perform most of our tasks and generate better economic value, it threatens our perceived worth and validity.

However, the most crucial difference is one of scale. Current AI models are just the beginning. This is a turning point. AI’s capabilities will soon accelerate at an unimaginable pace, making today’s tech seem primitive in less than a decade. For instance, consider GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 in the graph below from Our World in Data. The two models were released less than a year apart, but the training computer increased by nearly 10x.

Most of us cannot comprehend the cultural and societal implications on our civilization, let alone prepare for them. Humans are limited by time and scale as we have only one brain with a limited lifespan. So, we can’t think and understand beyond a certain limit. On the contrary, artificial intelligence can scale up to encompass the entire planet into a single integrated entity.

More importantly, the lifespan of an artificial intelligence will be much longer, potentially lasting hundreds or even thousands of years. This will allow AI to view and analyze things from a broader perspective than humans. As a result, humans may perceive artificial intelligence in the near future as a superior entity with immense power and immortality, second only to God. Such a superior entity may have the power to modify our reality.

Could AI alter our reality?

In reality, every individual’s perception of reality is entirely subjective and there is no single objective reality. What humans share is commonality, and this commonality is fiercely and ruthlessly defended. In this regard, we can say that the commonality within human society is our reality.

For example, when you look in the mirror, you believe that what you see is reality or a part of reality. You and your reflection are not different. However, the person in the mirror isn’t real; it merely mimics your actions. The same applies to all the ChatGPT and other AI tools. AI is an extension of our own problem of reality.

Currently, we use ChatGPT to find solutions to our daily minor problems. But in the future, AI could be trained to respond to human emotional issues with the same emotional range a human can offer to others.

For instance, a live chatbot might act like your friend and offer advice on some of your life problems. There will be people who will, out of desperation or self-realization, seek genuine human connection through AI.

This is comparable to the current iteration of social media: Instead of real humans, there will be AI. So AI is not just an economic conflict with humans. It also threatens another part of humanity that we consider unique and valuable: our ability to provide emotional and romantic connections to each other.

This is not a figment of the imagination. There are reports of people who have used the services of an AI companion called Replica, falling in love with their AIs and then being left heartbroken. Today, AI voice synthesis can lend words an appropriate degree of emotional significance. With a few texts, you can create a supermodel that is more attractive and superior to the real one.

For better or worse, AI continues to progress, leaving it to humans to figure out how to interact with it. In the future, AI will become so human-like that some humans may question whether the AIs belong to a sentient family.

As artificial intelligence advances and infiltrates various aspects of our lives, its influence on our perception of reality becomes increasingly significant. A key way AI shapes our understanding of reality is through its involvement in virtual and augmented reality technologies.

AI-driven simulations have a profound impact on our perception of reality. By creating highly realistic and immersive virtual environments, these simulations challenge our understanding of the nature of reality. Recently, Sora, a text-to-video generator tool from ChatGPT, released some videos based on Generative AI. At first glance, it was difficult to tell they were generated by AI, due to the high quality, textures, dynamics of scenes, and consistency.

As the line between the virtual and physical world becomes blurred, distinguishing between “real” and “authentic” becomes more complex. Humans have to make a tough choice between the potential benefits of using Strong AI while ignoring the hidden risks.