The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) means the birth of a new regime of truth. This is a consequence of a rapidly changing world in which the truth has been reduced into a mere commodity. The good that a society must promote is that which makes its institutions function well. A truth regime is a result of power relations. The structures of human society give birth to the different types of moral discourse. Today, AI answers the questions teachers ask their students during exams. Cheating has metamorphosed into its most modern form.
The advance of AI in the field of education is a source of worry. It will result to the demise of human values and the death of authentic commitment to work. What remains of the truth is a symbol. But it is something that will not be able to deliver us from the fetters of social injustices. AI is the latest form of colonialization that will hold our minds captive. The human world is no longer human. The virtual world is the new reality. In the same way as Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” we are its new prisoners.
What has happened is that human society has become subservient to the power of the mind put inside the microchip. Institutional displacement means that rules, policies, and ubiquitous memos are more important than warm human beings. It forces many among us to learn and use new gadgets, adapt to modern technology, but also fail to point out the dangers of technological determinism. AI has no respect for persons. All the intelligence contained in one tiny microchip does not include the capacity to distinguish good from bad.
A radical world, however, makes no distinction between morality and politics. Even art has become ideological. Art is not just for art’s sake. It is also the expression of protest and dissent. Pablo Picasso sees it as an instrument for changing the world. In this respect, art must make manifest the truth in terms of the perspective of the cruel human condition. History, in this regard, is something that is a matter of aesthetics. But since power remains at the center of everything, even the meaning of history and the purpose of art must be aligned to it.
The microchip symbolizes the modern world. For the longest time, moral individualism has determined how things must be judged. What is good or bad is no longer rooted in something indestructible. Plato once emphasized that the good is universal, unchanging, and eternal. But the power of money changed all that. An avatar has replaced the human soul. The good has become a mere garnishing in a world that is clothed in the dark alleys of virtual reality. Happiness is no longer about self-fulfillment. It is about getting viral.
People normally exchange goods by determining the value of the same. Economics is no longer based on scarcity but in the capacity of an individual to pay for what has been produced and sold in the market. Transactions become cash-less. In reality, this is capitalism’s way of hiding all its evil. In fact, in the public sphere, algorithms help in getting political leverage. The will of the people is now decided by the ability of a computer to analyze human behavior and influence the same by means of fake news. By means of online transfers, even vote buying leave no trace. People will sell their moral principles to become part of the digital underworld.
Modern society has created a huge marketplace in which people may now choose the kind of life they so desire. It is a life that is based on similitude, image-building, and a public persona, now all found in the internet. In a world that glorifies individual achievement more than anything else, people race against time to create that image of themselves in order to make society believe that happiness is all about online fame and becoming viral. A man spends his whole life desiring to build his mansion or create a name for himself. But in the end, what he actually wants is to be liked by complete strangers and people who mean nothing to him.
