{"id":2086,"date":"2022-11-09T22:09:46","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T22:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/?p=2086"},"modified":"2023-12-15T19:52:49","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T19:52:49","slug":"ai-and-religion-in-2041","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/2022\/11\/ai-and-religion-in-2041\/","title":{"rendered":"AI and Religion in 2041"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Next week, at the\u00a0American Academy of Religion\u2019s Artificial Intelligence and Religion Seminar, I\u2019m leading a roundtable discussion<\/a> on\u00a0<\/em>AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future\u00a0(Currency, 2021). Below are my introductory comments for the session.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future<\/em>, scientific forecasting and speculative fiction are brought together to imagine the near future of AI. The science fiction writer Chen Qiufan tells ten stories about AI in 2041, which were developed in collaboration with Kai-Fu Lee, an AI expert and entrepreneur, who provides a commentary on each. Overall, these stories explore key AI technologies around the globe\u2014in India, Nigeria, South Korea, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Germany, the United States, Qatar, and Australia\u2014and highlight major social issues associated with AI in diverse cultural contexts.<\/p>\n

Kai-Fu Lee says his intent is to \u201ctell the \u2018real\u2019 AI story, in a way that is candid and balanced, but also constructive and hopeful.\u201d He focuses on real and realistic AI, technologies that already exist or can be expected within the next twenty years. Lee\u2019s projected expectations for AI became a map for Chen\u2019s speculative stories of impact, to which Lee adds technological analyses of what each story reveals. Situating himself in a tradition of technological speculation extending back toFrankenstein<\/em>, Chen points to the continuing challenge for science fiction writers, which he describes as \u201ccreating stories that not only reveal hidden truths about our present-day reality, but also, simultaneously, project even wilder imaginative possibilities.\u201d In addition to providing distance for critical reflection, Chen says that, \u201cBy imagining the future through science fiction, we may step in, make change, and actively play a role in shaping our reality.\u201d[1]\n<\/p>

Lee and Chen share the goal of imagining a desirable future, where the benefits of AI can result in more meaningful and fulfilling lives. They focus on how AI can be good for individuals and society\u2014as well as the challenges that need to be overcome. Lee concludes that AI in 2041 \u201cwill open the door to a radiant future for humanity\u201d: \u201cAI will create unbelievable wealth, amplify our capabilities through human-AI symbiosis, improve how we work, play, and communicate, liberate us from routine tasks, and \u2026 usher in an age of plentitude.\u201d At the same time, he acknowledges, \u201cAI will bring about myriad challenges and perils: AI biases, security risks, deepfakes, privacy infringements, autonomous weapons, and job displacements.\u201d These challenges are created by humans, Lee points out, and in AI 2041 <\/em>they are confronted with \u201chuman creativity, resourcefulness, tenacity, wisdom, courage, compassion, and love.\u201d In each story, he claims, \u201cour sense of justice, our capacity to learn, our audacity to dream, and our faith in human agency always saved the day.\u201d Lee concludes: \u201cWe will not be passive spectators in the story of AI\u2014we are the authors.\u201d And in the future we will author with AI, Lee and Chen imagine we will live comfortable and secure lives, pursue love and self-actualization, and see fear, vanity, and greed decrease. More fundamentally, Lee says, we will \u201cexplore what makes us human and what our destiny should be.\u201d[2]\n<\/p>

In spite of the clear faith in human agency that runs through AI 2041<\/em>, religious language, images, practices, and beliefs are conspicuous. This is not surprising, given the spiritual revelation Lee records in his previous book from 2018: AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order<\/em>. After receiving a severe cancer diagnosis, Lee visited a Buddhist<\/a> monastery in the south of Taiwan where a monk asked him about his goal in life. Lee answered, \u201cTo maximize my impact and change the world.\u201d But he was not very satisfied with his answer. Lee confessed, \u201cThis algorithmic way of thinking wasn\u2019t just \u2018suboptimal\u2019 at allocating time. It was robing me of my own humanity.\u201d \u201cSeeing my ultimate end point threw my life into sharp focus,\u201d Lee writes, and he began to see that the world \u201cdidn\u2019t boil down to inputs, outputs, and optimizations.\u201d He did not want to become an \u201cautomaton.\u201d At the end of Superpowers<\/em>, Lee eloquently pleads for a shared future that synthesizes \u201cAI\u2019s ability to think \u2026 coupled with human beings\u2019 ability to love.\u201d[3]\u00a0Around the same time, Chen began interviewing and shadowing shamans, \u201cin hopes of understanding the rites, rituals, and traditions of China\u2019s Buddhist and Taoist past.\u201d Chen, too, believes much has been lost in our accelerated technological culture\u2014\u201cour relationship to our bodies, to nature, to our roots, to our faiths\u2014and he had set out in search of them.\u201d[4]\u00a0<\/span>And so, in AI 2041<\/em>, Lee and Chen include glimpses of what religion might look like in a world transformed by AI.<\/p>\n[1]Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan. AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future<\/em>(New York: Currency, 2021), xv, xx\u2013xi.\n[2]Lee and Chen, AI 2041<\/em>, 437\u201338.\n[3]Kai-Fu Lee, AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order<\/em>(Boston, MA: Mariner, 2018), 185, 187\u201388, 190, 193, 196.\n[4]Yi-Ling Liu, \u201cSci-Fi Writer or Prophet? The Hyperreal Life of Chen Qiufan,\u201d Wired<\/em>, March 8, 2021, https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/science-fiction-writer-china-chen-qiufan\/<\/a>.\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AI 2041 offers glimpses of what religion might look like in a world transformed by AI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[142,466],"class_list":["post-2086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-speculative-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\nAI and Religion in 2041<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AI 2041 offers glimpses of what religion might look like in a world transformed by AI.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/2022\/11\/ai-and-religion-in-2041\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AI and Religion in 2041\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AI 2041 offers glimpses of what religion might look like in a world transformed by AI.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/2022\/11\/ai-and-religion-in-2041\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Wisdom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-09T22:09:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-15T19:52:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/846\/2022\/11\/AI-2041-198x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Paulus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mjpaulusjr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Paulus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/2022\/11\/ai-and-religion-in-2041\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/2022\/11\/ai-and-religion-in-2041\/\",\"name\":\"AI and Religion in 2041\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-09T22:09:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-15T19:52:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/f2b1ab370cd4dda7608f6165567c80f2\"},\"description\":\"AI 2041 offers glimpses of what religion might look like in a world transformed by AI.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/2022\/11\/ai-and-religion-in-2041\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/2022\/11\/ai-and-religion-in-2041\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/2022\/11\/ai-and-religion-in-2041\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"AI and Religion in 2041\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/\",\"name\":\"Digital Wisdom\",\"description\":\"Reflecting on Theology and Technology in the Digital Age\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/f2b1ab370cd4dda7608f6165567c80f2\",\"name\":\"Michael Paulus\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/digitalwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2d029e3d8979e0a51c36d40c3a999b6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2d029e3d8979e0a51c36d40c3a999b6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Paulus\"},\"description\":\"Michael Paulus is University Librarian, Assistant Provost for Educational Technology, and Director and Associate Professor of Information Studies at Seattle Pacific University. 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