Software CEO to Catholic panel: AI is more mass stupidity than mass unemployment

AI, Obesity, and Mass Stupidity Analogy

• Several commenters compare AI to cheap calories: abundance leads most people to “mental obesity” while a small minority use it to reach new heights.
• They predict a widening gap between those who offload thinking to AI and those who deliberately train their minds with it.
• Some worry about how to maintain a functioning society if large groups become cognitively weaker and economically useless.

Data Quality and Knowledge Erosion

• Concern that as AI-generated text increasingly trains future models, reliable information will become scarce.
• Fears include loss of physical books, decline of competent teachers, and future “genius” minds lacking a solid knowledge foundation.

Artificial Intimacy and Social Bonds

• The term “artificial intimacy” resonates: simulated listening and care from chatbots may replace real relationships.
• Some say they don’t want deep bonds and view AI companionship as a legitimate personal choice, while others see that stance as a marker of serious distress.
• There is debate over whether society should “stamp out” anti‑social, addictive behaviors because of health and social costs.
• Commenters note LLMs’ infinite patience and sycophancy may skew expectations of human relationships.

Anthropomorphism and Guardrails

• Many support designing LLMs to be explicitly non‑human: no human names, no simulated relationships, no suggesting they “care.”
• Others question if de‑anthropomorphizing is technically realistic given human-written training data, but suggest legal standards like “no intentional user deception.”

Class Divides, Impulse Control, and Tech

• LLMs are seen as another layer in a class cleavage already visible with junk food and smartphones: they reward self‑discipline and harm those with poor impulse control.
• Some contest the framing, pointing out that wealth does not guarantee good habits, but agree that consumer tech is optimized to exploit impulsivity.

Employment and Economic Displacement

• Several reject the claim that infinite human wants guarantee jobs.
• If AI labor becomes cheaper than human labor, wages could fall below subsistence, making unemployment or forced idleness structurally permanent unless society chooses redistribution.

AI as Tool vs Cognitive Atrophy

• Some treat AI as a fast but untrustworthy “junior intern” useful for boilerplate, code glue, and first‑pass explanations, provided everything is checked.
• Others report that LLMs more often waste time than save it, especially due to errors and hallucinations.
• Commenters argue that for every person who uses AI to learn faster, multiple people will use it to avoid learning entirely.

Religious and Christian Perspectives

• Some see “artificial intimacy” as paralleling religious structures of mediated relationship; others strongly reject that equivalence.
• A few ask how Christian institutions should engage AI ethically and seek recommendations for serious Christian scholarship on technology and modernity.