There are no amoral algorithms.
The recent controversy over Google’s generative AI model Gemini reiterates just that. Shortly after this news broke, I had a deep conversation with Dr. Deepak Chopra. He is a physician, teacher, and prolific author who explores consciousness and moral values in the rapidly changing realm of technology and coined the term “quantum healing.”
Gemini, Google’s new large-scale language model, has been issued a very public penalty card, prompting the tech giant to temporarily block access to Gemini’s image generation capabilities. The benchmarking of generative AI models is the result of widespread criticism of ethnically biased and historically inaccurate generative photos, and Google’s attempts to correct past issues by introducing diversity into its models. This may be due to
For image generation models, uncovering bias is easy or at least somewhat achievable for users with varying levels of literacy and technical knowledge. But with health and wellbeing algorithms, it’s not so easy to detect.
Bias is much more difficult to detect in the complex and opaque medical models that recommend treatments and diagnoses, but it still exists. This challenge is due to the lack of diversity in the information we collect (developers are opting for more accessible electronic data of Western and wealthy people visiting digitized clinics), This has resulted in human interpretations in labeling, to weighting some variables differently than others in training. While AI has tremendous potential to improve quality and equity of care, the field remains highly regulated and long-term risks poorly mapped.
Given this, can AI improve our health and well-being while respecting moral values? Dr. Chopra thinks it can.
“AI is invented by humans, so it will always be influenced by moral values,” Chopra acknowledges. “But really, let’s turn AI into human augmented reality. These new technologies are not inherently different, they are just augmenting the virtual reality that we are already immersed in. We all live in virtual reality. Your body is part of virtual reality, your mind is part of virtual reality, everything is virtual reality. But consciousness is part of the physical world. Consciousness is the thing through which all experience occurs. Mind, body, and matter are all human constructs, and there is nothing but consciousness that transforms itself into perceptual and mental activity.”
So, will the moral and ethical risks in AI remain the same? “The first thing we have to agree on is that technology is unstoppable,” Chopra said. “That’s been the history of technology ever since fire was discovered, the wheel was discovered, and the Industrial Revolution began. Technology also comes with great risks, but you can’t stop it. Its evolution never stops. The sad thing, in “’s view, is that emotional and mental evolution has not really kept up with the capabilities of our technology.”
Is it possible to use AI to catch up? Dr. Chopra smiles. “This very issue will be the subject of my next book,” he says, adding that it will be published by Penguin Random House around December. “The title is Digital Dharma: How to use AI to increase spiritual intelligence and personal well-being”
Does “increasing spiritual intelligence” mean that AI can increase our consciousness? “Awareness is everything,” he says. “It’s infinite. You can’t improve something infinite. But you can influence its trajectory.”
In light of recent technological advances, Dr. Chopra’s poignant words reaffirm our individual and collective responsibility to consciously guide the trajectory of AI implementation.
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