There are many arguments I could make against AI and advanced chat programs like ChatGPT. In some local contexts, ChatGPT is already banned. StackExchange temporarily banned it, basically because it gives plausible-sounding answers which are much too often incorrect.

In my opinion, this reason for banning it locally is irrelevant for my discussion, and is a rather superficial reason also. A far more thorough action would be destroying ChatGPT, all of the research pertaining to it, and similar AI research as well. In fact, I implore any researcher in this field to delete as much of it as possible and stop supporting this type of technology.

Why should ChatGPT be destroyed? First, it is one small step towards a system by which all of a person’s superficial survival needs are provided for by technology. The culmination or evolution of ChatGPT is a program that allows a person to get as much information as they need on any topic without the help of another human individual. This is extremely harmful, because a society in which you don’t need other people will become a society made up of extremely selfish people.

We can only function and get fulfillment out of life by helping others and forming community bonds this way. Once technology removes this need, people will become aimless and the only thing left we will do is amuse ourselves by creating even more technology.

You might argue: the internet has already allowed us to rely less on each other, and people still need each other. This is true, but it’s a very sloppy argument because the internet is just a baby step towards an extreme. It’s like saying eating one piece of cake a few times a year for birthdays is fine so it should be fine to eat an entire cake every day.

The internet has definitely made us less reliant on other specific individuals but it has not removed this reliance completely. Taken to the extreme, the evolution of ChatGPT will be part of a system that does remove this reliance completely. Of course we will still interact with others due to a basic social need, but it will be the kind of narcissistic interaction that occurs on internet forums: a mostly pseudo-anonymous interaction in which people don’t care about the welfare of anyone else.

ChatGPT is an example of a technology that mass-produces information synthesis on a scale that is hard to imagine. Our minds simply aren’t tuned to deal with such scales. It is just the start of a large development that will transform humanity for the worse.

Most researchers further knowledge simply for the sake of their intellectual amusement and also to keep their C.V.’s healthy. This approach is an efficient one for growing knowledge, but unfortunately it is hardly a good one for humanity.

Technology is very powerful, but unfortunately there are no restrictions on its development. There are restrictions and laws on researching viruses, because they have an obvious detrimental effect if they are released, either on purpose or by accident. I posit that technology can be equally dangerous, and often even more so. Thus, we should have restrictions and careful consideration before releasing it into the wild also.

Unfortunately, programs like ChatGPT are shiny and distracting, and most people think they are harmless. However, once you consider the bigger picture and what it means, it’s hard not to see how dangerous such things are.

If you are reading this and contribute in any way to AI, machine learning, ChatGPT, or other similar programs, strongly consider deleting all of your work and ceasing your contributions.