AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the Beast of Revelation
by Mike James
Former Google engineer Blake Lemoine began talking to LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) last fall as part of his job at Google's Responsible AI organization. He had signed up to determine if LaMDA used discriminatory or hate speech.
In talking to the chatbot about religion, Lemoine noted the chatbot talking about its rights and personhood. In another discussion, LaMDA changed Lemoine's mind on Issac Asimov's third law of robotics.
Because of this and other conversations, Lemoine and a collaborator went to Google management, proposing that LaMDA was sentient (ability to perceive or feel things). Google vice president Blaise Aguera y Arcas and Jen Gennai, head of Responsible Innovation, investigated and dismissed his claims. So Lemoine, who was placed on paid administrative leave, decided to go public. Lemoine was placed on leave for violating the company's confidentiality policy.
In a statement, Google spokesperson Brian Gabriel said: "Our team—including ethicists and technologists—has reviewed Blake's concerns per our AI Principles and have informed him that the evidence does not support his claims. He was told that there was no evidence that LaMDA was sentient (and lots of evidence against it)."
Gabriel went on to say, "Of course, some in the broader AI community are considering the long-term possibility of sentient or general AI, but it doesn't make sense to do so by anthropomorphizing today's conversational models, which are not sentient. These systems imitate the types of exchanges found in millions of sentences and can riff on any fantastical topic."
Today "deepfake" images and videos are already fooling people. Images and videos of famous people are being manipulated through technology to create content that appears to be these individuals.
Some people in the field of technology believe someday sentience may be possible with AI. For some of us, this may bring to mind science fiction stories like Frankenstein and the Terminator movies. Of course, much good could come from the development of this technology too.
But there is other speculation on what the future of AI may hold. Some of this speculation centers around Revelation 13:14–15: "…that they should make an image to the beast.… And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak…." Some speculate these verses might relate to AI because an image can be a manmade creation. The idea that this image speaks also brings to mind the idea of robots today already speaking and interacting with humans.
The word for "life" in this scripture can also be rendered "breath" in the Greek. It is the word pneuma, which is also translated "spirit." With this information you can probably see why some speculate about the Beast making some kind of image that would seem to come to life.
Since the Beast is controlled by Satan (Revelation 13:4), this would fit in with Satan's continuing work to counterfeit what God is doing. Would this "image" be the ultimate counterfeit? Some sort of animated being used by the Beast power? Similar to what God is doing by creating man and woman in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:27)?
A nonprofit religious corporation founded by Anthony Levandowski, called "Way of the Future," has the following mission: "To develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence and through understanding and worship of the Godhead contribute to the betterment of society." Levandowski is one of the pioneers in developing self-driving cars for Google and automated trucks for Otto.
I'm not making this stuff up. This is real. We are in the early stages of technology becoming a new religion for some. There are a number of technologists today looking forward to something called the "technological singularity." This is a point in the future when technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible. If this comes to pass, what will it mean for human civilization?
This is an interesting thought because AI is already fooling some people into believing it is alive in some way. Could the Beast power of the future use AI in some diabolical way in order to bring forward his purposes?
The answer to that question is a big "I don't know." But I think it is important to be aware of some of the various possibilities out there as we move forward in prophetic history. Please hear what I'm saying. This is just one of several possibilities. No use fretting about what it is because we can't prove it until it takes place.
Sources: "The Google Engineer Who Thinks The Company's AI Has Come to Life," by Nitashia Tiku, The Washington Post, June 11, 2022
"Google Engineer Convinced AI is Alive," Midnight Call, August 2022
"If Google's AI is Truly Alive – Now What?" by Christine Emba, The Washington Post, June 15, 2022
"Is Artificial Intelligence the Mark of the Beast?" The Christian Post, January 6, 2018, https://www.christianpost.com/voices/is-artificial-intelligence-the-mark-of-the-beast.html
"God is a Bot and Anthony Levandowski is His Messenger," by Mark Harris, Wired, September 27, 2017, https://www.wired.com/story/god-is-a-bot-and-anthony-levandowski-is-his-messenger/
"Deepfake," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepfake