“We buy a sense of security from machines”

In a research project that will culminate in the book “Gods of data”, Carl Öhman compares AI systems to gods. He argues that, just like gods, they are a kind of personified amalgamation of society’s collective knowledge and authority. This premise allows him to study AI from a religion-based critical perspective. He is interested in exploring what we would lose if we allowed ourselves to be controlled by technology, even if it were completely flawless. In a thought experiment where he takes the matter to its extreme, he has a young couple in love, who have started to argue because they have different values, seek help from an artificial relationship coach.

“They ask: ‘Hi. Should we stay together?’ The AI has access to all their data: their DNA, childhood photos, everything they have ever written and searched for, and so on, and has been trained on millions of similar couples. It responds: ‘There is a 98 percent probability of this ending in disaster. You should break up today. In fact, I’ve already found replacement partners for you who are a much better match’,” says Carl Öhman in the research podcast Forskarpodden.

Something is being lost

For many, this is an unsettling thought.

“But based on current AI ethics, there are really no rational reasons why they shouldn’t follow what AI says. We’ve already said in the example that the system is right. There is a 98 percent probability that this will end badly. So, if they care about their own and each other’s well-being, they should break up. Yet, we have this gut feeling that something is being lost. With the religion-based critical philosophy, I can articulate what that something is,” says Öhman.

In the case of the couple, Öhman argues that it is their faith in themselves and their relationship that the two young people in the example risk losing, because it is precisely through our beliefs and courage that we create who we are as people.

“My point here is that love always involves risk. All interpersonal relationships carry the risk of getting hurt, feeling sad, or something going wrong. We can certainly use technology to minimise that risk, perhaps even eliminate it entirely. The point is that something is lost in the process. We sell our ability to be brave and buy a sense of security from machines,” says Carl Öhman.

Minimise the risk of having your heart broken

Many people would probably think that would be quite practical and nice. Imagine being able to minimise the risk of having your heart broken. But Carl Öhman believes that we must be aware that it comes at a price.

“When we talk about AI taking over our lives, or taking over society, it’s easy to imagine it as some kind of violent takeover. The machines are coming to take our lives away from us. But the point in my book, and this project, is that we are actually handing over control of our lives, our courage, our faith, and ultimately ourselves,” he says.

The research project also examines a range of other types of relationships in which AI has come to play an increasingly important role, such as parenting. There is already an entire industry of AI apps that help adults reduce friction in their relationships with their children. For example, they can provide personalised responses in real time to resolve conflicts and even prevent them from arising.

“Just as in the example of the young couple in love, something is lost here. In this chapter, I use Sigmund Freud and his idea that belief in God is a kind of refusal to be an adult. That there is some kind of world father who ultimately always has the right answers. And this is a pretty similar situation. There is a world father in the form of AI, who then becomes the real parent in your relationship with your children. And you increasingly self-identify as a kind of child of the AI parent who has the definitive answers,” says Carl Öhman.

Åsa Malmberg