AI and the ‘spooky stuff’: a future history of the human

Catherine Clarke | 20 November 2024

Policy-makers and scientists are gathering in San Francisco this week, for the AI Action Summit hosted by the UK government. The possible futures and potential risks of Artificial Intelligence are once again under close scrutiny.

Jonathan Birch, a Professor at the London School of Economics, has predicted that AI could lead to ‘major societal splits’ as different groups or subcultures emerge with diverging views about, for instance, the rights of AI and the protections which should be given to Artificial Intelligence.

What other, less predictable, social and cultural changes might develop as AI becomes more powerful and central to our lives? As a (medieval) historian who’s worked on AI over recent years, I’m interested in where these massive changes might take us in terms of our beliefs, values, and cultural practices. Can we imagine a ‘future history’ of the world living with advanced AI? What might be the more counter-intuitive or unexpected consequences for society – which policy-makers may not have reckoned with? History teaches us that rapid technological change can bring unforeseen and sometimes astonishing cultural transformations.

In 2023, I spoke at a conference on AI (specifically Large Language Models or LLMs) hosted by the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Many of the ‘big names’ of Artificial Intelligence were there – including Nigel Shadbolt, ‘godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton, and others working at the cutting edge of AI, both in academia and in tech companies.

One phrase kept popping up in the lively debate – a phrase I’m thinking of again today, as the San Francisco summit approaches. Numerous speakers argued that AI could now undertake all the cognitive functions of a human – and, in many cases, more. The only difference between AI and us, they suggested, was if you happened to believe in ‘the spooky stuff’.

Spooky stuff? They meant beliefs around the uniqueness of humans and what people of faith might describe as the existence of a ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’. If AI can do everything a human can, is it only belief in the existence of a God-given soul which would set humans apart from the machines?

The Bible, for instance, tells that God ‘created mankind in his own image’ (Genesis 1:27). The capacity of humans to reason and think has underpinned notions of human exceptionalism for centuries, even shaping early concepts of human rights. It’s created risks, too. In the Book of Genesis, God brings the newly-created animals to Adam ‘to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name’. That sense of human uniqueness and dominion over nature hasn’t always been good for ecology and other animals on our planet. How might it play out in eco-systems of the future, in which machine-based AI exists alongside organic species?

To be clear, I don’t believe that current AI is, really, fully intelligent. In my own work, with Professor Murray Shanahan of Imperial College (he’s also a Principal Research Scientist at Google DeepMind), I’ve explored the intersection between Large Language Models (such as Chat-GPT) and creativity. Creativity, I’d argue, is an essential condition of being human. So, is it possible for a so-called ‘AI’ to be genuinely creative? Spoiler alert: no. Our research showed that what you get out of an LLM (Large Language Model) depends on the sophistication of the prompts you put in, so relies on human creativity and skill. LLMs can be trained in complex ways to achieve surprising results. But human creativity underpins everything (and, as we know, is often appropriated extractively and unfairly as ‘training data’ for AI tools).

Religious faith in a ‘soul’, or that we are ‘made in God’s image’ isn’t the only basis for believing that we’re different from AI, of course. Atheists, humanists and people of diverse different beliefs and cultures would argue that it’s the human capacity for empathy, or curiosity, or creativity, or imagination that makes us who we are. Religions don’t have a monopoly on the ingredients of what makes us human.

But, for those who think it’s only the ‘spooky stuff’ that sets us apart from AI, what might that mean for our future? Where could that lead us in terms of other, unpredictable social and cultural changes?

We might see a world in which human craft and creativity are prized in new ways. Novels ‘written’ by AI might be ten a penny – but perhaps the discerning consumer will pay a premium for ‘artisanal’, ‘handmade’, human-authored content. Perhaps we’ll prize cultural material which describes sensory experience – something machines aren’t (yet) able to experience first-hand or articulate authentically. (Of course, humans themselves have a wide range of different sensory capacities, abilities, and experiences, so there might be risks that a dangerous and ableist machine/human dichotomy could emerge.)

And perhaps the ‘spooky stuff’ will become a more dominant part of our culture, and our discourses and values around what it means to be human. If having a soul, or being created in the image of God, is supposedly what makes us different from AI, then might human cultures turn further towards religion and faith? Will we look to God to distinguish us from the machines? Could a new ‘religious turn’ in society be one unexpected, counter-intuitive impact of the rise of Artificial Intelligence?  What might that mean for our institutions and communities – and for public policy?

It's an intriguing prospect and just one of many thought experiments possible around the potential futures of our lives with AI. Historians are well placed to help us imagine unexpected futures, informed by the past. Indeed, my own specialism as a medieval historian might be pertinent here. Perhaps historians immersed in periods in which religion was the dominant mode of thought might be especially well equipped to help contemporary society imagine – and perhaps one day negotiate – a new era of faith.

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About the author

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Catherine Clarke is Professor and Director of the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community at the Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London. She was previously Professor in English at the University of Southampton, where she remains a Visiting Professor.