The age of the AI guru

Could Generative AI be a useful tool for wisdom?

This week, I’ve had an experience that I can only describe as Tech Sublime - sublime meaning ‘a sense of awe mingled with horror’ - at the growing power of Generative AI. 

Here are two examples of what it can now do. Google Notebook, one of its AI platforms, has a feature where you upload any file and it turns it into a podcast, instantly. I uploaded the URL for Ecstatic Integration, it read it all instantly (all the free stuff anywayI, and turned it into this, in roughly a minute: 

If it wasn’t for the strange animal-like yelps which the female presenter occasionally lets out (2.51), I’m not sure I would recognize it as computer-generated. In other words, AI has certainly passed the Turing test. Does it mean it’s conscious? Hell no. It means it’s increasingly hard to tell if what we’re engaging with is human or AI. 

We’re in Philip K Dick territory here, people. 

There’s instant AI-generated video these days as well. On Invideo.io, I put in the URL for my recent article, ‘‘What is the role of risk in psychedelic and spiritual practice?’ and it instantly generated this video. 

Not bad? Although clearly a little bit…stocky. 

AI generated content is coming along fast. What does this mean for content creation, for intellectual and philosophical communication? What does it mean for human civilization? 

It’s changing just about every industry, much as the internet did 25 years ago. In healthcare, doctors are increasingly consulting ChatGPT for diagnoses. In therapy, the UK National Health Service is using AI to analyze language in client-therapist interactions. The company providing the NHS this service, IESO, says it has a success rate 3% higher than non-AI-augmented therapy. 

It’s likely (by the by) that AI will play a big role in psychedelic therapy -  analyzing gene-drug interactions, creating novel compounds, analysing therapist-client interactions, supporting integration, even helping people with post-psychedelic difficulties (I have wondered about feeding all our research and articles into an AI on post-psychedelic difficulties but am not sure I trust the technology yet).

Could AI replace human therapists altogether? There are already countless AI therapy bots in existence, like Woebot, Eliza, Abby. There’s also a large, somewhat absurd industry of personalized AI bots you can pay to be your friend (there was a tragic story last week of a teenager who fell in love with a Daenyrs Targaryan chatbot and killed himself, apparently to be united with her). 

The leading company for personalized chatbots is Character AI. Its most popular bots are fan-fic characters from manga and pop culture (Draco Malfoy is for some reason the most in-demand bot from the Potterverse). But one of their most popular bots is Psychologist. The BBC’s Joy Tidy reports: 

A total of 78 million messages, including 18 million since November, have been shared with the bot since it was created just over a year ago.

Tidy adds:

In total there are 475 bots with "therapy", "therapist", "psychiatrist" or "psychologist" in their names which are able to talk in several languages. Some of them are what you could describe as entertainment or fantasy therapists like Hot Therapist. But the most popular are mental health helpers like Therapist which has had 12 million messages, or Are you feeling OK?, which has received 16.5 million.

Why pay for a human therapist when Luna Lovegood could provide AI-support at a fraction of the price? All of these therapy bots are, of course, entirely unregulated. Yes, potentially they could play a major role in providing evidence-based support to people (even potentially those dealing with post-psychedelic difficulties) but do we trust an AI bot not to offer random or harmful advice to those in crisis? 

Hey, at least they are unlikely to fuck the client. 

I paid for ChatGPT Premium this month, and so far I mainly use it as a Spanish teacher. And I’m sorry to say it’s a really good Spanish teacher. It voice-chats with me whenever I want, on whatever topic I want, in whatever voice I want. It remembers my level of Spanish, remembers what vocabulary I’m trying to learn, remembers details of my life, and instantly tailors my classes according to my specifications - reading tests, grammar tests, jokes, riddles, poems, stories. In one session, it took me on a wild fictional journey into space, underwater, even encountering a Taoist master flying above China. I asked the Sage ‘tell me something about myself I don’t know’. 

The AI Taoist Master replied (in Spanish): 

Jules, you have embarked on many paths, seeking answers, experiences, and at times, facing the shadows of your own doubts. You've searched for wisdom in the external world, in nature, in the words of sages, and in ancient teachings. And although you've found many answers, you still carry a restlessness within.

Wow so true.

What you may not see clearly is that, within you, you already have the ability to reconcile those conflicts. Your nature is that of a seeker, but also that of an integrator. You are meant to unite the pieces of wisdom you find in the external world and transform them into something of your own, something that resonates with you on a deeper level. In a way, you are like the Monkey King: mischievous and rebellious, yet also full of potential to be a master of your own path, once you accept that the journey toward wisdom is not about controlling everything but knowing when to flow with what is.

OK that’s Fortune Cookie bullshit, but still, quite fun for a Spanish class. 

Could there be AI gurus, even (as Yuval Harari has predicted) AI-generated religions? Absolutely. They already exist. One of the most popular new influencers in the online Manosphere is someone called Far From Weak, who makes inspirational life-coach videos for young men, with a deep manly voice imparting somewhat banal Broicism / Andrew Tate-esque man-wisdom over a stirring orchestral soundtrack and images from anime, movies, and games like God of War. The channel started two years ago and has 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube. 

The subscriber comments are full of praise: ‘Sir, you may never see this comment, but if you do I want to say how grateful I am to have found your channel. Yours, and a few others have helped me make a huge change in my life. For two weeks I have been getting up earlier, exercising / working out every day, meditating, and making the important sacrifices to improve my quality of life.’ 

It appears that the channel is largely AI-generated. In one video, the anonymous maker boasts that he has several other ‘Faceless YouTube’ channels all AI-generating content and earning him a large passive income. 

AI-generated ‘Faceless YouTube’ channels are the hot new get-rich-quick scheme on YouTube - you can find countless videos telling you how to set up your channels and automate them to produce content - meditation, Stoicism, Christian inspiration, crypto, MMA, whatever, then sit back and watch the advertising revenue roll in.