The Robots Are Taking Our Jobs

In these latter days of this Information Age, we find ourselves in a world that is not so much “brave” or “new” as it is bland and repetitive. Because modern man has, in many cases, not yet found God, he is perpetually restless, waiting around for the “next big thing.”

Given this sociological climate, it makes sense that the latest “next big thing”—the debut of generative AI—has been greeted with such excitement and intensity from all perspectives. Colorful predictions, equally obnoxious in their optimism and their pessimism, have a choke hold on popular sentiment. This sort of garish pseudo-prophecy presents two possible futures: either we will enter a glorious new age of AI-powered prosperity, or we will suffer total annihilation at AI’s “hands.”

Of course, I don’t think it’s that simple. Neither does our Holy Father. Pope Leo XIV is no naive idealist, nor is he a fearmongering prophet of doom. He models the Catholic approach to developments in science and technology: not outright rejection (unless they are obviously evil) nor immediate and complete acceptance; rather, a cautious examination of their merits and drawbacks within the context of the Faith. 

Pope Leo’s caution regarding AI, however, is notable. While he doesn’t seem to believe that AI is the antichrist, he has proven to be critical of those who would sing AI’s praises unequivocally. We should take his skepticism seriously.

It is a sad reality that many present-day scientific and technological developments—AI included—seem to be made largely for their own sake; for the sake of a nebulous and often deadly concept of “progress.” “Progress” as the raison d’être for new technologies has given us several intrinsically evil things, like IVF and contraception, and an innumerable number of things that are, at best, dubiously moral—various military technologies, for example. Unmanned stealth drones are an engineering marvel, but that means next to nothing when we’re using them to fight unjust wars and commit atrocities from the comfort of our ergonomic desk chairs. (As an aside—what happens when we inevitably slap a “Powered by AI” sticker on the latest creations of the military-industrial complex?)

Life imitates art. Much like the Jurassic Park franchise (which as of this summer has seven installments) man keeps making dinosaurs, no matter how many times he’s warned of the consequences. Some of the dinosaurs are welcome developments and basically harmless. Unfortunately, AI is more like a T-rex than a triceratops. And metaphorical “dinosaurs” like AI are far more insidious than the real thing. You can’t always tell when they’re eating you alive—when they’re stealing your soul. 

AI would be a lot “simpler” to deal with if it was a T-rex—if it was as obviously physically deadly as some people make it out to be. In some cases, maybe it is. Time will tell. But I have a feeling that, for the most part, it will go the way of many major technological developments within the past century: just another excuse to sell us more stuff, to make already mindless consumers even more mindless, to dull and deaden our intellect and will. This is the most likely way by which AI will “destroy” us—not by killing the body but by killing the soul. Such is the devil’s subtlety.  AI will “destroy” us—not by killing the body but by killing the soul. Such is the devil’s subtlety. Tweet This

Pope Leo has already warned us of this very thing, this stripping away of our dignity. Quoting Pope Francis, he called it an “eclipse” of our humanity. 

And it’s not just the pope. Countless people tried to warn us this would happen. We laughed about it, we dismissed the possibility, and now we’re living the reality. 

The robots are, indeed, taking our jobs.

I don’t just mean our careers. Of course—unfortunately—there will likely be mass layoffs in the corporate world wherever there are jobs that AI will be able to do at a lesser expense and a greater efficiency, to benefit the beloved bottom line. 

Closer to home, however, many of us will be tempted to let go of some of our own human faculties in favor of AI’s supposed superiority. Maybe we’ll use it (maybe we’ve already used it) to do our writing for us, our designing, our thinking, our creating.

Things like this are, undoubtedly, what our Holy Father is concerned about. Despite the misnomer “generative” often applied to advanced AI, it can never actually “generate.” It is a man-made tool. It can never create or make anything truly unique. It can only composite, alter, and rearrange; it can only give the impression of intelligence. It can never actually become intelligent. That would require a soul.

Intelligence, originality, creative ability: these are some of our most important “jobs” as creatures with rational souls. We cannot allow AI—our own creation—to usurp our creativity and leave us to perform only the most basic functions and tasks. All other apocalyptic predictions pale in comparison; that would be the most dreadful cataclysm, the darkest eclipse.

Man’s ability to participate in the creative nature of God is an incredible gift, and we ought to cherish it now more than ever. We must seize hold of our ability to create, we must throw ourselves headlong into artistic pursuits, we must think deeply and contemplate the transcendent, and we must delight in real things. In other words, in the face of AI—man’s latest attempt to forget just how human he is—we must embrace everything that makes us human.

Maybe we’ll be bad at it. Actually, I have no doubt that we will be bad at it, at least at first. That should be no obstacle for us. As Chesterton said, if something is worth doing, then it’s worth doing poorly. We’ve already seen how poorly AI does some things that are otherwise worth doing. (“AI art” is an oxymoron—and simply moronic.)

AI will get more sophisticated, certainly, but it will never get “better.” It doesn’t really get “better,” it just gets more convincing, “better” at maintaining the facade of intelligence. 

But we can get better at these things, and we should get better. The development of our creativity, our skills, and our intelligence is critical to preserving our dignity in this materialistic, consumerist world that values it less and less each day. Our good Lord has given us our talents for a reason. Far be it from us to bury them, let alone outsource them to an overblown search engine. 

Artistic pursuits, profound thought, beauty…these kinds of things seem useless in the eyes of a society concerned primarily with function and utility. We must show that society just how important these things are. Perhaps Pope Francis said it best in his final encyclical, Dilexit Nos: “In this age of artificial intelligence, we cannot forget that poetry and love are necessary to save our humanity.”