Is AI taking us back into Plato’s Cave?

The allegory of Plato's Cave from Book VII of "The Republic" is a philosophical metaphor about enlightenment.

Prisoners are chained inside a dark cave, where they face a blank wall and unable to turn their heads. The prisoners can only see the shadows projected onto the wall by objects passing in front of a fire behind them. Thus, these shadows are the only 'objects' the prisoners know. It is their truth. This truth becomes the prisoner's reality.

As such, we are becoming trapped within the web of our own creation, where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a psychic prison, locking us into views, ideas and the realities of others AI allows us to see. AI now bridges a gap between appearance, reality, and knowledge. AI turns appearance into the truth just like the prisoners inside Plato's Cave, where the shadows are manifested into the prisoner's reality inside the cave.

The "truth" is illuminated by a fire behind the prisoners, just as AI illuminates the truth through the light of a screen. AI is becoming communally accepted as fact. Thus, AI traps our modes of thinking, if it is allowed to. It shapes complex realties down into understandable 'bites of knowledge' people can conveniently consume.

This is what is occurring in education today. The pandora is now out of the box, where everyone can do well at school, at least in assignments. Going back to Plato's Cave, if we are freed from the chains and can move around, he can see the shadows that created the prisoner's reality, are in fact just the shadows of objects passing in front of the fire. The prisoner finds there is a different world with real objects that create different meanings.

AI is not the magic that comes out of a Pandora's Box. AI is itself based on limited grounded knowledge (especially the mass consumer brands), the same knowledge we have been seeing on the internet for years. Pieces of information as texts, magazine articles, opinions, ideas, and presentation become the information AI uses to present realities to the person that makes the request. So, as information on the internet is limited and often skewed, subject to paywalls (that AI cannot penetrate), Google algorithms, and censorship. The realities AI often present are skewed or carry the bias already there.

This is not necessarily political bias, it might be bias created by the specific AI tool access to selected media, i.e., the sites AI mines for information. Some information, may be hidden in some way or the other. People forget AI is grounded in the information it has access to and seeks access. If you don't believe the writer, ask AI itself. AI will tell you that.

AI is already playing a major role in education. Students and teachers are using the tool to look up, write, arrange, and research topics. Its easy and it saves time. AI takes away the element of curiosity, as information is given to the reader in a second. The only skill you need is how to ask the right questions.

The ease of using AI destroys our curiosity

Curiosity is a prime precursor to creativity. Without curiosity, there is rarely any creativity. Curiosity is a necessary driver. Curiosity is actually an emotion that sparks inquisitive behavior and an intricate part of both the creative and learning processes. And if creativity is a process, AI will interfere with humans exercising this process. Curiosity is also a driver of passion. The slow subduing of curiosity can have major affects upon a person's ability to be intrinsically satisfied from the work they do.

When people rely on AI to undertake work tasks, many steps in cognition are skipped. If this is done regularly, neuron paths begin to close off.

IQ is not a constant. When you don't keep using learned paths, templates and mental-maps in the brain, your cognitive abilities start to decline. This state of loss brings down IQ and other types of intelligence like logical and mathematical intelligence. A sort of dumbing down effect.

This is of great mental cost to humans who rely on the use of AI for long periods of time. Remember the Baby-boomer and Gen X generations could do mathematical calculations in their heads (mental arithmetic). Today's generations must rely on the external assistance of calculators. AI will have a similar effect on cognition related to mental possessing.

AI is already beginning to become the major source of society's truth. In its applications, AI is already taking over from journalists, teachers, academics, stockbrokers, data entry clerks, software engineers, copy writers, artists, musicians, doctors, and many other occupations. We are not as yet aware as to how much AI generated material we might read each day.

However, today's generation of AI cannot easily replicate creativity due to the limited use of grounded information it uses and weakness of algorithms that project information into new thought concepts. The overuse of AI will greatly decrease the level of satisfaction a person generates by completing a challenging task. People are not going to feel that 'high' they get when they complete an assignment, presentation, or complete a book. Achieving a sense of satisfaction triggers the release of neurochemicals and hormones like serotonins, oxytocin, gamma-aminobutryic acid, and endorphins that interact to produce good emotional feelings, pleasure and a general wellbeing. In this way, AI will take-away some of the humanity in our work.

As AI takes us closer to this digital construct of the world that reflects a particular reality, society is heading closer to "The Matrix". For all intents and purposes "The Matrix" is no more than Plato's Cave in a digital format. What is now very important is teaching people to use AI just as a tool, and not let it become the master of your destiny.

We know what the value is of a graduate who has done all their work through AI generated work. The essence of curiosity, ability to be creative and actual intelligence will have been damaged by AI. With that comes lack of problem-solving ability, or just plain common sense.

Although AI is a massive breakthrough in information organization and management, AI is also 'dumbing down' our society. This is an (un)intentional consequence of AI. Just ask AI and it will tell you so.