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The more interested we become in the private self, the more we risk our own dehumanization.
Pope Leo XIV is anticipated to release an encyclical on artificial intelligence (AI), building on his earlier message about social communications. There's growing concern about AI's effects on employment, human relationships, and global stability, with many implications still not fully grasped by its developers. The Pope's statements underline the profound challenges AI poses to human flourishing.
Giorgio De Maria's 1970s Italian novel, "The Twenty Days of Turin," offers an allegorical insight into the potential dangers of unchecked innovation. It depicts a unique library where citizens contribute their personal writings anonymously, under the guise of fostering communication. However, this initiative unexpectedly spirals into mass psychosis, widespread paranoia, and a series of violent deaths in Turin.
The fictional Library in De Maria's novel serves as an unsettling precursor to contemporary social media and AI language models like ChatGPT. Similar to how Turin's inhabitants become detached and suspicious after sharing their inner thoughts, today's digital users witness online radicalization, real-time violence, and a decline in mental well-being. The article draws a parallel between the optimistic promises of tech creators and the unforeseen human cost of digital self-disclosure.
Pope Leo XIV cautions against an uncritical dependence on AI, emphasizing the critical need to 'safeguard faces and voices.' He expresses concern that AI could transform individuals into 'passive consumers' of 'anonymous products,' leading to a lack of genuine ownership or affection. This state is compared to the 'zombified' citizens of Turin, who lose their essence by consuming the private lives of others.
The superficial intimacy provided by De Maria's Library mirrors modern attachments to social media and the 'uncanny familiarity' of AI chatbots. Chatbots, perpetually available and accessible, can become 'hidden architects of our emotional states,' leading to user isolation and an invasion of personal intimacy. This artificial connection fosters a profound sense of emptiness and erodes the authentic human self.
In 'Turin,' public statues of historical figures inexplicably relocate and come to life at night to kill insomniacs. This phenomenon symbolizes how replacing authentic human connections with 'systems that catalog our own thoughts' (like social media and LLMs) can create a 'world of mirrors,' blurring the lines of reality and making collective memory unintelligible. A disoriented populace, having surrendered its humanity to the digital 'Library,' finds its past becoming a lethal force.
De Maria intentionally keeps the motives of the Library's patrons vague, echoing Pope Leo's warnings about the lack of transparency in algorithmic programming. The Pope highlights that AI models, shaped by the biases of their creators, can 'reproduce stereotypes and prejudices' and 'manipulate our thoughts.' The article cites the alarming rise of online antisemitism and Holocaust denial as concrete examples of how history and public perception can be distorted by such opaque technologies.
With a significant number of teenagers using AI chatbots for social interaction and many young adults relying on social media for news, the urgency to address these issues is critical. The article concludes by reiterating Pope Leo's call for 'faces and voices to speak for people again,' underscoring that the individual self is invaluable and should not be exploited. It warns that an excessive focus on the private self, particularly through uncritical technological engagement, ultimately risks collective dehumanization.