Technology, the Ambivalent Friend
This speech was delivered by the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Michel Abs at the webinar organized by MECC under the title "Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence", on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
Professor Michel Abs
The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the machine age, humanity entered a new era characterized by liberating production capacity from the limitations of artisanal output to the vastness of mass production. This was made possible by machines supplying producers with an ever-increasing quantity of products, thereby meeting a larger portion of human needs and raising profit margins, which led to the accumulation of capital and the emergence of large-scale production corporations.
On the level of production, agricultural, industrial, and even commercial, technology contributed to improved marketing and distribution through low-cost products, and therefore competitive pricing, in an increasingly cutthroat market.
In other aspects of human life, housing, food, transportation, entertainment, technology played a vital role in advancing these domains.
The most sensitive area remains the medical field, where diagnostics and treatments have progressed beyond imagination, extending lifespans and making healthcare faster, more effective, and less painful than in the past.
If we delve deeper into the effects of technological advancement, we find countless areas where technology brought about positive changes that people welcomed, and even demanded.
However, the field that witnessed the most drastic technical advancement, to the point that it changed the face of humanity and caused cultural, social, psychological, and economic transformations, is information technology and its associated fields.
The computer, this small device - which began as a massive machine, and later the mobile phone, even smaller and sometimes more powerful than the computer, have fundamentally and irreversibly transformed humanity.
Information technology and its derivatives have unleashed boundless human innovation and creativity. What was once considered science fiction has become a tangible reality in our daily lives.
After the many discoveries born from the rise of information technology, most notably the human genome map and its serious implications, comes Artificial Intelligence (AI), presenting the greatest challenge to humanity so far.
In daily life, we hear conflicting opinions about AI and its use across various sectors. Most of these opinions come from people who have not deeply examined this new methodology or its impact on human life. Instead, we hear outdated views of AI, mixed with suspicion of new innovations and work methods, often laced with nostalgia for a bygone era.
The progress humanity has achieved so far has raised living standards, reduced suffering, increased productivity, and improved efficiency, just as the machine did during the Industrial Revolution. It has also eliminated many jobs now considered routine, uncreative, or repetitive, ushering in a new, advanced phase for humanity.
Eliminating jobs that require low skills has become acceptable, even desirable. Many jobs and professions have been eliminated, and many more are likely to follow. Humanity is now viewing the future through an elitist lens, one not without a Darwinian undertone that suggests the survival of the fittest.
What is the impact of this on society and, consequently, on human dignity?
There is no doubt that technological advancement is desirable and beneficial in countless ways, but we must acknowledge that this new trajectory in human life has negative effects, both in scope and consequences.
We must first admit that the elitism generated by AI divides populations between those who can keep up with this civilizational shift and those who cannot. It also divides individuals in society into those integrated into this new path and those marginalized from it, creating fractures and marginalization both globally and locally. This challenges the ideal of equal opportunity championed by modern societies that advocate for justice and human rights.
Moreover, as with any technological advancement, AI will inevitably lead to the elimination of large numbers of jobs, estimated in the hundreds of thousands globally, thus becoming a major cause of unemployment and forcing many into professional and social marginalization, which inevitably leads to misery.
While human dignity may find in AI a means for improvement in some respects, its negative consequences are far from negligible and will gradually unfold as this new paradigm pervades more aspects of life.
Does this mean we should accept or reject AI?
The only one who can answer this question is the human mind and its wisdom. It is up to people to determine how and to what extent technology is used, and to set boundaries to prevent the human mind and will from becoming subservient to technology, for technology can either be a faithful friend in the service of humanity—or its ambivalent foe.