Have you ever interacted with an AI chatbot and wondered how it's so incredibly good? The strange truth is, even the experts don't fully understand why these systems work so well.In this mind-bending TEDxVUAmsterdam talk, theologian Marius Dorobantu dives into the unexpected secret behind AI's surprising intelligence: human language itself. He argues that language is far "more than" just data, it carries a profound metaphysical depth and even an "imprint of our humanity," something theology has been exploring for centuries. If language is such a potent catalyst for both human and artificial intelligence, what happens when we outsource its production to AI systems?This talk challenges us to rethink our relationship with language, how we interact with AI, and how we can use ancient wisdom to understand our choices in a technological world. Marius Dorobantu is an Assistant Professor of Theology & Artificial Intelligence at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His award-winning doctoral dissertation at the University of Strasbourg, France (2020) explored the potential implications of strong artificial intelligence for theological anthropology.Marius is the lead editor of the Routledge volume Perspectives on Spiritual Intelligence (2024). His first monograph, Artificial Intelligence and the Image of God: Are We More than Intelligent Machines?, is in press with Cambridge University Press. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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