Causing a considerable commotion, Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Meta) recently suggested the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) companionship for individuals experiencing social isolation. This proposal emerges during a period described by the Surgeon General as having epidemic levels of loneliness, raising significant concerns for our personal and communal health. Many have noted the irony—and indeed, the horror—of the situation: the very technologies and companies that have significantly contributed to the loneliness crisis are now being repositioned as remedies. It’s a dystopian scenario that could even make Orwell uneasy.
As each day brings new strides in AI technology, the encroachment into our daily lives becomes increasingly prominent, bringing forth urgent questions regarding the ethics surrounding its applications and progress.
What domains of human experience should remain inviolate, let alone be superseded, by AI?
Could the most fundamental human desire (meaningful connections) possibly be delegated to these machines?
When do these machines transform from mere tools into the metaphorical overlords of our existence?
**The pandemic’s insights on virtual connections**
The accumulating evidence regarding the impact of these technologies on our mental and social well-being continues to grow, and it is not in their favor. Unintentionally, the policies enforced during the COVID era serve as a control experiment illustrating what can transpire when video calls, screens, and virtual interactions replace genuine, face-to-face communication. The implications of these policies on our children, who represent the most cherished segment of our society, are notably discouraging.
In a setback for national academic performance, students across all grade levels have reported declining test scores in every major learning area since the disruptions caused by the pandemic in our educational environments. Emotional well-being and interpersonal skills suffered as well, underscoring the critical importance of in-person, direct learning and connections.
Much literature has already been produced regarding social media’s impact on mental health. Now, AI has been incorporated into this already harmful mixture. New conditions with dystopian overtones, such as “AI psychosis,” have emerged, indicating that these tools, rather than alleviating issues, have often exacerbated mental health challenges.
Thus, the pertinent question arises: why would we allow these technologies to further invade our lives? Should we not approach these tools with skepticism, especially as they are paradoxically positioned as solutions to the very crises they contributed to?
**Transhumanism: an unsettling evolution of AI technology**
These trends of technological, and subsequently AI, omnipresence herald the emergence of a broader movement (transhumanism) that aims to not just enhance but additionally replace fundamental human functions with technology.
With the extraordinary and unprecedented influx of private capital and governmental support into AI ventures, these tendencies show no signs of the slow, reflective consideration that is warranted by the significant consequences they suggest.
We, in the field of medicine, must sound the alarm for caution and ethical awareness. We, in medicine, acknowledge our vocation as unlike any other, ranking among the highest and most honored callings, seeing the ultimate goals of human well-being as more than mere molecular functions and equations, but as a profoundly personal journey.
In the words of Dr. Faith Fitzgerald, a cherished mentor, “Medicine is a human endeavor that uses science solely as a tool.”
By this understanding, we view the human being as far more than a mere aggregation of components: transcending beyond simple products of chemical interactions and elementary pattern recognition to be predicted, altered, and managed. Therefore, our most profound yearnings (with connection being paramount) cannot and must not be reduced to proprietary algorithms and machine-learning processes designed to somehow interpret and treat.
**The ethics of AI: danger and promise**
As AI inescapably infiltrates even more personal areas of our lives, these challenging yet existential issues must be scrutinized and guiding principles established.
When humanity confronted yet another perilous era with the introduction of nuclear weapons, that period’s most renowned figure, Albert Einstein, cautioned, “You can have the ethical foundations of science. You cannot derive the scientific foundations of ethics.”
At that significant juncture, the quintessential symbol of science, Einstein, held that the ethical guidance regarding how these technologies are utilized and developed must come not solely from science or scientists, but through collaboration with a wider community.
This initiative must engage all of us from diverse disciplines and sectors, united in our concern and responsibility for the future of health and community as we navigate the presence of such radically transformative tools.
The late Jonathan Sacks consented to this viewpoint, adeptly stating, “Science disassembles things to understand how they function. Religion assembles things to comprehend their meaning.”
Consequently, scholars of religion and the humanities at large play a crucial part in reinstating a sense of