In short, he is not hopeful that AI’s benefits will outweigh its potential drawbacks. Murphy writes that “a fraud is being perpetuated on the American people and our pliant, gullible political leaders. The leaders of the artificial intelligence industry in the United States are rapacious in their desire to build wealth and power, comfortable knowingly putting aside the destructive power of their product, and claim that any meaningful regulation of AI in America will allow China to leapfrog the United States to control the world’s AI infrastructure.”

What is most insidious in my eyes aren’t the geopolitics of AI; it is something much more personal to all of us …

… the idea, stated here that “fake video and audio, without accountability or legal liability, could obliterate any notion of objective truth. The social isolation crisis that already exists, especially for American teens, could be set on fire by AI chatbots and ‘friendship programs’ in which Mark Zuckerberg wants to replace human friends with robot friends. (Really!) Murphy continues: The substitution of essential human functions – like composition, creativity and conversation – by machines will likely lead to incalculable spiritual atrophy.”

The title to Senator Murphy’s piece ends with these words: “…we risk losing ourselves.” The thought is positively chilling. Who are we if not, first and foremost, ourselves? The idea of being able to create a fabricated human “being,” even, if just on a screen, strikes me as a Godless act that in its own right, and multiplied millions of times, is a recipe for widespread social dysfunction. Such a wave would undermine the very meaning of trust. How can I trust you, if what I see and hear in front of me may not be true at all?

Some years ago, I wrote a newsletter entitled I am who I say I am! (Maybe not). It was my attempt to call out the emerging dangers of social media, which were leading young people to fabricate “identities” online that, unwittingly, pulled them away from their natural selves, stretching the band of credibility, sometimes to the breaking point. It was written well in advance of the AI movement, which now exponentially increases the risks I cited.

What keeps me up at night is another fact of online life, which Sherry Turkle, an MIT professor, describes this way. She says that Facebook and Twitter (now X) give us the power to “present the self we want to be,” carefully tailoring our status updates and retouching photos of ourselves. Or worse: creating identities that aren’t real at all.  It’s a slippery slope. What starts out as fun, morphs into fantasy, which may no longer be tethered to reality. And then what?

Amid all the pressing challenges AI poses to the human experience, there is good news. It is rooted in the true nature of human identity. I am not referring to your social position, your religion, sexual orientation, or gender, or parental status, or your work or any other affiliation you may embrace to help define yourself. As important as these associations may be, none of them explains who you are, at your core – your fundamental identity. What makes you, you are those unique characteristics that define your potential for making a special contribution in the world, something that springs naturally from the substance of your being, transcending the labels we use to locate ourselves in the world.

With this in mind, the only way we can “lose ourselves,” as Senator Murphy warns, is if we forget, ignore, or try to abandon our innate identities. Consider your identity to be an impenetrable fortress against the onslaught of the many and growing dangers AI brings, a sturdy keel in stormy waters.

There is no person walking this planet who doesn’t have the capacity to live through his or her identity. You are the one who matters. You are where the world begins. Remember that you are inviolable. No one, no matter how ‘intelligent’, can take your identity away from you. AI will never be able to replace, diminish, or change who you are. No one, nothing, can make you be someone you are not.

As AI complicates life – at times confusing it and at times clarifying it – know that your identity is the one true thing you can count on and that it is eternal.

Never lose sight of who you are.

The post In the age of AI, your identity is the only truth you can count on appeared first on Larry Ackerman.

It is common knowledge that politics is a business that, for the most part, lacks integrity. Politicians will do or say almost anything to stay in office. Yet, there has never been much disagreement about the facts of a given situation. You may not like them or agree with them, but they are what they are. Until now.

Writing in The Week magazine, William Falk, editor, talks about A Moral Imperative to Deceive. He asserts that “there’s a growing bipartisan conviction that virtually anything — lying, cheating, and spying — is justified because, well, the other tribe is so evil.”

This “anything goes” attitude has become a widespread phenomenon. It belongs to politicians on both sides of the aisle. Most striking is that the new Democratic super-star, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, is more than comfortable with this deceit. Falk writes, “when (she) was recently questioned about her fuzzy math and exaggerated claims about Pentagon waste, she shot back, ‘There’s a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right.’” In short, the end justifies the means. At 29, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may already be lost…

There is an old adage that all politics is local. Today, we can modify that and say that all politics is personal. The politicians are just the catalysts. The people who sign up for this view – that nothing matters but what we believe is the moral imperative, truth notwithstanding — spread the destruction of integrity.

Here’s the irony: Once you ignore the truth, and the facts that give rise to it, you lose the power of argument – the ability to put together a cogent and credible case to support your views. All you have left is opinion, mine vs. yours – a flimsy substitute for a well-reasoned claim. In essence, you have zilch.

There is nothing cool, admirable, or trustworthy about anyone who is afraid of the facts. No matter how much the truth may hurt, or not align with your priorities, it is the wellspring of integrity. Your ability to face the facts is a measure of your strength of character. And, at the end of the day, character and integrity are all you have.

Almost.

Where does integrity come from?

The roots of integrity and the character it spawns are found in your identity — the unique, value-creating characteristics that define the special contribution you are capable of making in the world. Your identity doesn’t come from your affiliations, or your labels — your gender, color, sexual orientation, religion, profession, etc. It comes from the core of your being, the ‘sacred center’ of what makes you human. This center — it resides in each of us — is fueled by a “truth” about who you are that is inviolable. It is this truth that gives rise to integrity.

When you step away from the truth in any form, what does that say about you? What is your identity then? Do you no longer need to be grounded in reality? When you lose touch with your essential identity, you lose touch with your humanity, your truth.

Having the courage to embrace the truth tells us a great deal about who we are. Without this foundation we become unmoored. We become separated not just from “the other side” but from ourselves. When you betray the truth, you betray yourself. When you diminish the truth, you diminish yourself. When you ignore the truth, you ignore yourself.

As there is with all ships, each of us has a keel that keeps us steady, even in the stormiest weather. Our identity is that keel, holding us secure as we navigate our personal journeys. It ensures that we possess the wherewithal to act with integrity. If that keel is lifted, or broken, we are in grave danger of hitting the rocks, no matter where we choose to aim our rudder.

Why do we fear the truth, the facts? Are we afraid they won’t work in our favor? If so, we are cowards; we lack the very moral requirement we now blithely invoke to support our actions.

Justifying lies, exaggeration and deceit, on the grounds of some high-minded moral imperative constitutes an ethical failure on the part of the individual who claims it. Doing so marks the end of integrity, for integrity is fueled by truth, no more, no less. When truth is gone, integrity dies.

And, so, does a part of you.

The post The death of integrity appeared first on Larry Ackerman.