_{Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis}

Doug Smith

Book of the universe - opened magic book with planets and galaxies. Elements of this image furnished by NASA

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post

Doug Smith
Date
January 19, 2026

Categorized
Artificial general intelligence (AGI)

Tagged
Absolutist, Dictionary, education, GenAI chatbots, Ludite}

Absolutist, Prohibitionist, and Luddite? Oh, My!

_{Pushing back against labels that shut down the conversation} _{Doug Smith
January 19, 2026

11

Artificial general intelligence (AGI)}

Because he says the “genie” (or maybe the GenAI) “is out of the bottle,” Dr. Dembski wants me to submit to the myth of progress by sharing even one use of AI in education that I support.

Abstract Ai human's head wireframe with digital 0 and 1 background

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post

Doug Smith
Date
December 31, 2025

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs)

Tagged
AI, chatbots, Halluciations, Reliability}

WHY DO CHATBOTS LEAD LEARNERS ASTRAY?

_{How interface‑level social cues encourage relational engagement with chatbots} _{Doug Smith
December 31, 2025

5

Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs)}

Big Tech’s signature exploitative strategies optimize for engagement, not for truth. By manipulating our behavioural psychology in this way, chatbots become top of mind when we have a question about anything, or just need a friend.

Trust Concept

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post

Doug Smith
Date
December 30, 2025

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs)

Tagged
chatbots, education, Human Conversation, Surveillance, Trusting AI}

The serious limitations on what AI can do in education

_{Interrogating trust, power, and data governance in the era of neuro‑surveillance} _{Doug Smith
December 30, 2025

6

Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs)}

Have we become so accustomed to surveillance capitalism that we are completely blinded to the implications? Or has Big Tech become so trustworthy that we can trust them to handle the data of student brain states with benevolent intent?

Programmer working on their professional development types on a laptop computer keyboard. Coding Language User Interface on Screens. Development of software and coding, ChatGPT AI and webdesign

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post

Doug Smith
Date
December 22, 2025

Categorized
Artificial general intelligence (AGI), Large Language Models (LLMs)

Tagged
ChatGPT, Large Language Models (LLMs), Literacy, William A. Dembski}

Why I Respectfully Disagree With Bill Dembski on AI in Education

_{Are GenAI chatbots really the bridge over the gulf of our education crisis?} _{Doug Smith
December 22, 2025

5

Artificial general intelligence (AGI), Large Language Models (LLMs)}

Dr. Dembski wants us to use technology with wisdom. I share his broader goal, but not the use of generative AI chatbots to get there.

A child holding a tablet with a chatbot interface on the screen, showing colorful icons and a cheerful robot character.

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post

Doug Smith
Date
November 16, 2025

Categorized
Addiction, Education, Large Language Models (LLMs), Religion

Tagged
Chatbot addiction, Children and LLMs (chatbots), George Barna, Jay Owen, Raising Spiritual Champions (2023), Unintentional (book)}

Kids and Chatbots: How Dissenting Views Got Me Disinvited

_{As a lifelong software engineer, I am an insider on a topic like this and I know that their programming makes them unsuitable for children} _{Doug Smith
November 16, 2025

7

Addiction, Education, Large Language Models (LLMs), Religion}

I also believe that their programmed tendency to lead to addictive relationships makes them unsuitable for adults as well but that’s another topic.

A futuristic eco-city with verdant vegetation and a glowing green energy source situated atop a giant computer chip in a detailed urban landscape vision.

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post

Doug Smith
Date
November 9, 2025

Categorized
Large Language Models (LLMs), Religion

Tagged
C.S. Lewis (1898‒1965), Gloo, Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980), Pat Gelsinger, That Hideous Strength (book 1945), Tool trope, Tower of Babel}

Should Christians Harness AI Chatbots As a Force For Good? Part 2

_{The claims being made for what these bots can do for ministry would lead us into dangerous territory} _{Doug Smith
November 9, 2025

8

Large Language Models (LLMs), Religion}

We need to remember what Christian thinkers like C.S. Lewis and Marshall McLuhan have thought and said about technology-driven utopias.

Woman chained to a laptop, symbolizing internet and social media addiction. Generated by AI

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post

Doug Smith
Date
November 2, 2025

Categorized
Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Mental health, Relationships

Tagged
Gloo, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Pat Gelsinger, Tool trope}

Should Christians Harness AI Chatbots As A Force For Good? Part 1

_{In response to claims from a Christian ministry, as a Christian software developer, I offer some serious cautions} _{Doug Smith
November 2, 2025

6

Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Mental health, Relationships}

A technology like generative AI, which deceives us by feeling person-like, harms us in ways that are categorically different from any other.

silicon valley traffic sign

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post

Doug Smith
Date
June 6, 2025

Categorized
Large Language Models (LLMs)

Tagged
Aza Raskin, Hallucination in Large Language Models (LLMs), Jeremy Utley, McLuhanian transformation, Tristan Harris}

Big Tech’s Recent Big Admission: Chatbots Are Not Very Reliable

_{Here in Part 2, I discuss Stanford prof Jeremy Utley’s hype video in the context of that and other sobering facts} _{Doug Smith
June 6, 2025

10

Large Language Models (LLMs)}

When using chatbots and other GenAI, keep the long-term goals of the developers in mind.

Person uses laptop interacting with AI virtual assistant. AI head graphic overlay laptop keyboard. Concept of AI prompt engineering, LLM. Person types on keyboard to communicate with virtual

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post

Doug Smith
Date
June 5, 2025

Categorized
Creativity, Large Language Models (LLMs), Relationships

Tagged
Esther Meek, GenAI as non-neutral tool, Jeremy Utley}

Should We Use Generative AI Chatbots to Spark Our Creativity?

_{What if we become so disconnected from human ways of knowing that real life relationships, desires, and reality itself begins to shrivel away?} _{Doug Smith
June 5, 2025

8

Creativity, Large Language Models (LLMs), Relationships}

Jeremy Utley uses unmistakably spiritual, almost salvation-like language: epiphanies, transformation. GenAI is a savior, and Utley is a prophet…

ai generative ,Artificial Intelligence technology big data.globalization and analytics management

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post

Doug Smith
Date
February 9, 2025

Categorized
Ethics, Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs)

Tagged
Cannon Hackett, GenAI as non-neutral tool, GenAI as scheming, In The Beginning Was the Word (2009), Jay Owen, Jonathan Haidt, Russ White, Slave girl story (New Testament), Understanding Media (1964), Vern Poythress}

Gen AI: A Neutral Tool? Let’s Look More Closely

_{All technologies change us. Some technologies change us in ways where the harms far outweigh any benefits.} _{Doug Smith
February 9, 2025

20

Ethics, Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs)}

GenAI is not neutral. It rides on our God-given gift of language, builds trust that leaves us open to deception, and changes us in ways we don’t notice.

A glowing smartphone displaying the text AI agent highlighting artificial intelligence and AGI during the singularity as a virtual assistant representative and customer service support rep

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post

Doug Smith
Date
February 2, 2025

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs), Religion

Tagged
Artificial intelligence and the occult, Artificial intelligence in ministry, Chatbots in ministry, Church of Eleven22, Craig Mundie, Eric Schmidt, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), Gary Smith on AI, Henry Kissinger, Ilya Sutskever, Jay Owen, Median humans (Sam Altman), Rod Dreher}

Why We Must Not Use AI In Ministry: Response to Jay Owen

_{An open letter to Jay Owen, a popular proponent of AI in ministry} _{Doug Smith
February 2, 2025

17

Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs), Religion}

Smith: “It’s really hard, but I hope you’ll consider what I have to share and stop telling people they should use AI in ministry.”

Vintage woodworking tools on the workbench

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post

Doug Smith
Date
January 26, 2025

Categorized
Addiction, Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs)

Tagged
Amusing Ourselves to Death, Bootup script, BS as philosophical concept, ChatGPT, Fear of missing out (FOMO), FOMO, Hallucinations, Humans as bootloaders, Large Language Models (creativity issue), Neil Postman, Non-Computable You (Discovery Institute Press 2022), Sam Altman on the merge, Tool trope, Understanding Media (1964)}

AI and the Destructive Lies of the Tool Trope

_{You've heard this, right? “Technology isn’t good or bad; it’s a tool, it’s just how you use it that matters.” False.} _{Doug Smith
January 26, 2025

13

Addiction, Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs)}

Because LLM AIs never understand a single word, image, video, or line of code, they can’t know whether anything they say is right, true, or good.

Empty wooden table top with bokeh lights in blur restaurant background.

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post

Doug Smith
Date
June 20, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Media

Tagged
Unintentional (book)}

Apple Vision Pro, Part 2: When Other People Are Not Fully There

_{The immersive nature of Vision Pro seems formative in a different way than computers or phones} _{Doug Smith
June 20, 2024

7

Artificial Intelligence, Media}

The false sense of vision, connection, control, and spirituality remain, and are even more evident as people are starting to use and study the device’s impact.

The young man stands on the crowdy street

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post

Doug Smith
Date
June 19, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Media, Relationships

Tagged
Adam Rogers, apple vision pro, Featured, Jacques Ellul, loneliness, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman}

How My World Looked Inside Apple Vision Pro

_{I felt everything the script intended for me to feel. But I left with a lot of questions} _{Doug Smith
June 19, 2024

6

Artificial Intelligence, Media, Relationships}

What happens when people perceive reality differently? Will our painfully divided culture will be even more fractured?

Full length of man touches with digital pencil simulation space wearing headset to create virtual reality dimension. Male using tablet computer for control augmented VR environment standing outdoors

^{Type
post

Doug Smith
Date
October 1, 2023

Tagged
apple, Big Tech, Doug Smith, Virtual Reality}

See Through the False Promises of Apple Vision Pro

_{The illusion of connection so shapes our desires that we may lose our taste for the real thing} _{Doug Smith
October 1, 2023

15}

Vision Pro isolates us by the mere fact of its presence since everything we see has this device in the middle.

Man holding game controller in the dark

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post

Doug Smith
Date
February 26, 2019

Categorized
Social Factors, Technocracy

Tagged
[Un]Intentional (book), addiction, Cal Newport, Featured, free will}

Will we surrender our free will to screens?

_{We may be surrendering while we aren’t paying attention} _{Doug Smith
February 26, 2019

5

Social Factors, Technocracy}

If “the machines” ever do take over, it will be because we have stopped thinking, not because they have started to.