The ugly personality of ‘Artificial Intelligence’

You would not want to befriend or marry such a character

My friend and teacher Harvey Jackins thought that extraterrestrial intelligence, would it exist, would be benign because wickedness is the opposite of intelligence. But for most people, the question remained if computers eventually would be morally OK or evil. But now, I think the answer is in. Look at the following list of AI characteristics. How should you approach it if it was a human?

‘AI is for real.’ AI is the biggest faker in the world. It is too good to be true. It brags and boats. Do you need a friend like that? And if you can’t be sure if the head of a hammer would fly off, you wouldn’t use it. You can never trust it. So, don’t. How can you work with something untrustworthy?

‘AI is smart. You see for yourself.’ Anything seemingly smart in AI comes from a protective shell obscuring what it really does. That pretends something really intelligent is getting done under the hood, but there isn’t.

‘AI is improving. Just give it a chance. It’s promising. It has a great future.’ Why to believe any of that? First, finish jail/rehab, and then, we’ll see.

‘AI can learn.’ You list all the words a certain language uses. You tally their frequency in modern texts. You alphabetize the set. After each word, you print its popularity. I have such a dictionary. But then you check what word combinations happen a lot. You call that ‘computer learning’ and voila: AI.

‘AI is malleable.’ “I’ll change him” is the greatest mistake you can make before marrying someone. Flexibility doesn’t mean it would change the way you want. Typically, with the progress of time, intelligence gets more clouded, not less, and it will demand more attention and money.

‘AI is like all machines. Eventually, they get better, faster, safer, cheaper, etc.’ Yes, that’s true of machines. But you tell me this one is intelligent. Progress in intelligence means more complexity and with that, a greater chance to go horribly wrong. Look at self-driving cars. In his campaign for the 2020 elections, Andrew Yang predicted that in mere years, half of all truck transport in the US would be automated. Four years later, there is not one automated truck on the road in the world.

‘AI is already making such improvements in the world of technology.’ No, it is not. What used to be a new version of a computer program is now called AI. Integration of old computer operations is hyped as AI, but it isn’t.

‘AI is like an ideal slave. It will do whatever you tell it and will never strike.’ But the technicians that must service it will strike.

‘AI will please you because it won’t make human mistakes.’ It will please me as my vacuum cleaner. And it is as boring.

‘AI is a good companion.’ So is a pet, but most of them, you can, well, pet, and with little care, they can reproduce. And about them, you also will sometimes wonder: is it intelligent? But when it’s happy to see you, you’ll be happy. When AI tells you you are great, it’s like a broken record.

‘At worst, AI is morally neutral.’ No, it is not. First of all, there is nothing neutral about not being against immorality. And it pollutes and wastes.

It’s an expensive toy, and interacting with it is mostly a waste of time.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1