‘How can I help you today?’ asked the pleasant-sounding young man on the helpline. Could it really be that I had got straight through to speak to somebody personally and not have to to wade through pre-recorded messages, pressing of buttons or be subjected to half an hour of muzak while I waited to be put through. However when he repeated ‘How can I help you today?’ in exactly the same manner, I realised that this was not a real human being, but artificial intelligence. And if I did not respond in an expected way, I would not receive the assistance I required.
The request ‘I want to speak to human being’ was not understood by the bot. So I though the best approach was to shut up. Once I did get through to a real person, and expressed my relief after this brush with AI, I was told that I had just met ‘Danny’, the name given to the bot. As I get older, my ability to deal with the modern world seems to diminish. Whether it’s an incorrect item in the bagging area at the self-service checkout or difficulty downloading an app to pay for a parking ticket, it seems you have to conform to the system or you will suffer.
Life rarely conforms to a system. Life-circumstances are different for each of us; life is often complicated. That’s all part of being human. Only a human being with empathy can begin to understand what life is like for another person, and the problems they have to face. A bot cannot understand or express emotions; a bot cannot comprehend how difficult life can sometimes be; a bot does not care how you feel.
In the Christmas season, Christians celebrate the coming to this world of God’s son Jesus Christ. We celebrate the incarnation, that the Word of God became flesh and bone and became one of us. The Christ-child reduces the distance between us and God to an intimate degree. He knows what it is like to be human with all its joy and pain. And so, when we pray to him, we pray to someone who is completely interested in everything we have to say to him. He is here with us, through the Holy Spirit, all the time. We might ask ourselves if he is really there, but he is, he never goes away. Just as he is always there for us, and cares about us, so we must be there for each other, supporting each other. As our modern world becomes more dehumanised, this becomes all the more important.
Fr Adrian Ling
Rector of South and West Lynn