At the recent annual general meeting of SenseTime, one of the foremost AI companies in China, the CEO and founder Tang Xia`ou gave a full account of the difficulties encountered last year but was highly optimistic for success in 2024. His video presentation was made to attentive shareholders gathered together by Zoom many of whom were unaware that Tang was dead. His realistic presence had been achieved by the firm´s technicians assembling a digital clone which had absorbed Tang´s character and abilities by computer process using recorded material of his life.

Remarkable as this may seem, it is only indicative of the incredible speed at which Artificial Intelligence is being employed through large language model machines to compress the past and future into present “Real Time”. The contents of Last Wills can now be presented to beneficiaries by the digital presence of the dear departed; the works of composers, writers, and artists as previously recorded by their amanuenses can be employed to recreate what appears to be new material and, fearfully, the control of our lives by the elite of governance can continue by edict from beyond the grave.

The resurrection of the body and/or reincarnation of the spirit has been the substance of religious eschatological belief and superstition for millennia ranging from the times of Osiris and Baal in Canaan and the gods of immortality in ancient Greece to the Samsara of Hinduism and Zen of Buddhism. However, it is in the Abrahamic creeds that resurrection is a dominant theme both for the individual presently and universally at the supposed end of the world.

On Ascension Day, which this year falls upon 9th May, Christians will celebrate their belief that Jesus rose from the dead and presented himself to his disciples before ascending into heaven to prepare for his return to Earth on judgement day. With the advent of AI into all matters, one might speculate as to what would be the outcome if the data from the gospels, apocrypha and biblical scrolls were examined robotically to enable a simulation of his teachings similar to that of the late Mr. Tang.

Logically, we must also consider what would be the effect of releasing such teachings for apostolic distribution through an internet where, according to a report just issued by the cybersecurity agency Imperva, one half of all traffic is now initiated by “bots”. Of these, one half are stated to be bad bots engaged in fraud, hacking and misinformation while the others are not so bad but busy with the creation and circulation of opinions, comment and propaganda which serve the purpose of whoever pays.

In the absence of any global regulation to counter such abomination, it seems that we must place our trust in Relational Intelligence. This new expression posits the belief that there exists a base of ethical goodness in the souls of humankind which can be harnessed to create paradigms of cyber comportment which will resist diabolism. To succeed it will require a profound transformation of societal behaviour so that the criteria may be assembled for collective resistance to change for the worse.

“Every good boy (and girl) deserves favour” Moody Blues 1971.

Roberto Cavaleiro Tomar 02 May 2024