Artificial Intelligence and its Coexistence with the Absence of Intentionality

AI in an Unexpected Place

Two months ago, almost to the day, I underwent eye surgery in Canada. The anticipation of it on surgery day was daunting enough to freeze me up; I grabbed for the blanket in every room a nurse shuttled me through. 

Although I couldn’t make out more than his silhouette, the surgeon visited with me briefly before directing me onto the operation table. He was kind, gentle, and profoundly human, keeping space for me as I shivered through some rehearsed answers to his small talk. When he laughed, his confidence melted 0.0003% of the ice in my toes. 

I would normally close my eyes for such a procedure, preferring to meditate. However, by default, I had to remain wide open to the lasers incisioning my precious, once-per-lifetime sightseers. Orbs of light swirled across my field of vision. 

The surgeon, holding my head consolingly between his hands, let out another well-meaning laugh. “Quite the light show, isn’t it?” 

When it was over, he asked me to read the time from the wall clock—a task I’d not been able to do for upwards of 20 years. To my wonder, I could see: it was 9:45. 

“How on earth did you do that?” I asked, jaw agape. “How did you know how to program the machine?”

The surgeon smiled.

 “AI,” he said. 

AI In Ever More Places

Perhaps the mention of Artificial Intelligence (AI) shouldn’t have been so surprising to me. After all, AI has become ubiquitous in our everyday lives. There’s seldom a website, app, or search engine that hasn’t integrated some form of “robot.” Even some customer service call centers are manned by AI.

But healthcare? It seems I was stuck in the 19th century, thinking of manual procedures and clipboards stacked with paper and a pencil tucked behind the doctor’s ear. 

Yet it’s true: AI is wholly integrated into our healthcare systems now. As a powerhouse for data, pattern recognition, and logic, it’s streamlining diagnoses and procedures, equipping professionals with a greater scope of knowledge, and helping to further personalize patient care. Even at dental offices, AI can detect areas with cavity potential, thus empowering both patient and provider with preventative, rather than purely prescriptive, approaches.

The advancements of AI technology are truly remarkable. Never would I have dreamed that a computer program would be the thing to restore my vision to 20/20. Yet here we are.

Recent Unexpected Examples

Even still, amid all of AI’s wonders and miracles, the surgeon’s response gave me pause. Because in everyday life, the masses are using AI in ways that sacrifice some of mankind’s most engaging qualities. 

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed AI in a growing number of places—and not all of them are necessarily encouraging. For example:

• Disclaimers at the bottom of emails which read Copilot may have been used to write the above message. (“May have been” is almost always code for “was definitely.” AI language is egregiously easy to spot.)
• Job candidates whose self-proclaimed “attention to detail” ignored verb tense and list formatting errors on their resumes.
• Those same job candidates blatantly read scripted, keyword-heavy responses to answer virtual interview questions. 
• We’re All F*cked, a music AI-tist whose unique style resonated with me, is an experiment proving the alarming potency and ease of generating realistic soundtracks (and distributing them through algorithm planting) without much human intervention.  

Efficiency must have been one of the desired outcomes for each of these. Who doesn’t want to skirt around the interview pressure that makes you forget to mention all your relevant experience and skills? If AI only accomplished one thing, it would be that reduction of required effort. 

Side Note

I know the em-dashes I’ve been using will likely raise a few eyebrows because ChatGPT has capitalized on, and thus bastardized, their use. This has been the bane of many authors’ craft, particularly those who are newly published in this era of AI. Please be assured my use of em-dashes is intentional; they are chosen to follow language conventions as I was taught. 

When AI Overextends its welcome

AI’s reach has gone beyond mere productivity enhancement, though. I’ve ridden on buses in South Korea where people were chatting with “the robot” in Hangul. There are countless students who rely on it to generate essays and complete assignments. A flood of generated art has overcome online stores and makers’ markets. Some people have even gone so far as to partner with, or get married to, an AI personality. I spoke to a psychologist recently who expressed concern over the number of teenagers she’s seen relying on such associations. 

Human relationships are being exchanged for interactions with this ever-obedient technology. The critical thought required for research and exploration is getting swapped for idle procurement. Creativity is given a crutch upon which ideas can bloom, but with which can also be confined.

I’m no stranger to the enticing ease of AI. It’s been a guide for my meal planning and thought reframing as I claw out of disordered habits. An immediate response when I’d like to know how many exclamation marks are in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. A sounding board when I don’t understand the nuances of a social interaction. 

That’s where I started to feel compelled to pause. In seeking to understand, I had turned to a generative technology instead of a fellow being or my own inner wisdom. That caused me to wonder what we’re really gaining from a reliance on AI… and in turn, what we’re losing.

The QUiet Costs of AI

There is a tenderness to our interactions when they are not quite so easy. Navigating this world, whether with others or simply in search of a solution for something, can be both intimate and rewarding. But only if we’re awake. 

A concern with AI is its factory-like model, computing and presenting data as requested by a user. Like line workers on the night shift, we are prone to falling asleep, absentmindedly missing errors and tainting the fruits of our actions. Sure, those workers will eventually be replaced with automatons, as AI has already done for many tasks once limited to humans—and that could free up our time and energy for other (perhaps more meaningful) pursuits.

Have we actually embraced that freedom? Or have we only shifted the focus of our efforts, and in so exponentially increasing efficiency, raised our ceiling-less demands for more? 

In addition to the social ramifications of our dependency on AI, its infrastructure is hugely taxing for the natural environment. The amount of raw materials (construction), water (construction and cooling), and energy (power and performance) required for its operation is staggering. Not to mention the hazardous substances which result from e-waste.  

If we are to be stewards of Mother Nature and humankind, then our interactions with AI must change. Perhaps a start would be to reduce our reliance, and then integrate more intentionality.

When Two Things are Simultaneously True

As with anything in our lives, the complexities of AI are dualistic. That is, there are simultaneous benefits and detriments which result from its use.

On one hand, we have groundbreaking medical advancements, like my completely touchless eye surgery. Yet at the same time, misinformation is at risk of spreading, and digital violence is on the rise. (Among its many, many other problematic consequences.) 

What I’m learning is that two things can be true at the same time, even if they appear to be diametrically opposed. That is the way of our material world. As was written in the Tao te Ching, “Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil.” 

Light and dark, benefit and detriment. The former is only revealed by the latter and vice versa. In terms of AI, which is predominant? Coming from only one perspective, I cannot conclude the whole. However, I’m tempted to question whether AI is equal parts Artificial Intelligence as it is the Absence of Intentionality.

A Query into our AI Use

Despite the mention of “evil,” this is not a criticism of AI. Rather, it’s a query into how we interact with it—and perhaps whether we need to as often as we do. 

Even five years ago, our worldscape was vastly different. Look back fifty years, and there surfaces a significantly more monumental turnover. Our technology, cultures, societies, and understanding are changing at rapid-fire speed. If our current rates of development are to continue, then supplementary systems like AI are probably necessary.

On the individual level, however, it seems our consciousness would benefit from some reversion to “the old days.” Social isolation, for instance, is rampant around the world. Instead of relying on AI and social media for connection, we could reunite with activities that speak to our hearts and minds. Or, in a radical shift of events, we could simply turn to each other.  

By rekindling and mindfully directing our intention, we can reduce our reliance on technologies that distract from the core of what it means to be human. We can experience the world, and indeed our lives, in their infinite textures if we only attune to them. 

To do that, we may first have to sever ourselves free from the chokehold of immediacy and convenience. Then the work of awareness and simplicity can reign.

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“Be as simple as you can be; you will be astonished to see how uncomplicated and happy your life can become.”

— Paramahansa Yogananda