Head of Russian Orthodox Church Warns Of ‘Apocalypse’

The head of the Russian orthodox church Patriarch Kirill has warned that artificial intelligence could pose a threat to the very existence of human beings.

The Patriarch warned of the challenges that the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) poses for mankind during remarks at the ‘Culture of the 21st Century: Sovereignty or Globalism?’ forum in St. Petersburg recently.

He said: “If humanity loses religious faith, particularly in the context of the growth of technologies associated with the emergence of artificial intelligence, then we are truly entering the era of the Apocalypse”.

The development of humanity is only possible with the growth of faith and moral sense in people, Kirill stated, warning that otherwise there could be terrible consequences given the rise of technologies.

“We are approaching an apocalyptic time, this is what we all need to clearly understand,” he reiterated. “And the only way out of this possible crisis is faith in God, I say it loudly to the whole world. If we renounce faith in God, nothing will work.”

The Patriarch warned that AI could pose a real danger to the existence of humanity if it reaches the level of self-improvement.

He acknowledged that “of course, there are dystopian horror stories, when artificial intelligence takes power over all of humanity,” stressing, however, that “everything that concerns artificial intelligence is not yet fully understood and realized.”

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church is not alone in warning about the potential dangers of the rapid development of AI.

In 2023, a group of industry leaders, including from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic and others, warned that the technology they are developing might one day pose an existential threat to humanity and could be as deadly as pandemics and nuclear weapons.

yogaesoteric
September 16, 2024