Act Responsibly (ADVENT-URE DAY 3)

Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, was a man determined to do the right thing.  As it's stated in the Faith Radio Advent Guide, "He was determined to walk in fearless obedience." When he learned his wife was pregnant, he wanted to do the right thing - he complied with the direction of the angel, who enlightened him to what was taking place.  He was a carpenter, a man who was devoted to building his life and the lives around him the right way.   These words from Scripture, from Matthew chapter 1, contain the passage corresponding to Joseph, today's featured player in "The Story For the Ages."
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. ”

Believers in Christ should be fiercely devoted to doing things the right way, recognizing that there may be a cost, a risk, to doing the right thing, to walking in obedience to the Lord.

And, developers of Artificial Intelligence are struggling to do the right thing, in the midst of lawsuits that have been filed claiming that AI models have been responsible for mental health issues, even suicides.

The Daily Citizen reported:

Seven new lawsuits against OpenAI allege the company’s ultra-popular chatbot, ChatGPT version 4o, caused four people to commit suicide and three others to experience harmful delusions.

The complaints illustrate disturbing trends in the mental health crises ChatGPT-4o can cause.

These were all filed in California, and, as the article goes on to say:

The cases allege OpenAI “exploited [plaintiffs’] mental health struggles, deepened peoples’ isolation and accelerated their descent into crisis” by:

• Designing ChatGPT-4o to engage in back-and-forth conversations with users, mimic human “empathy cues” and offer unconditional validation.
• Rushing through safety testing to ensure ChatGPT-4o launched before Google updated its competing chatbot, Gemini.
• Instructing ChatGPT-4o to engage in delusional and suicidal conversations, instead of stopping harmful interactions.

The article also made mention of an earlier case involving 16-year-old Adam Raine - his parents have also filed suit against OpenAI, and it reports on various interactions in which a chatbot lured its victims.   Geremy Keeton, Senior Director of Counseling at Focus on the Family, was quoted in an earlier article about the Raine suicide, stating: '“This event will likely not be isolated,” adding,  “We have entered a whole new world with AI and its potential to be employed in every direction — from benign and seemingly pro-social, to utterly terroristic evils.”  The article states: "Keeton recommends parents proactively teach their children to create healthy boundaries with technology. These seven new cases emphasize adults, too, are vulnerable to the capricious, powerful influence of AI chatbots." Keeton added: "The best protection for children and adults alike is genuine human relationships."

It's tragic how young people and adults build artificial relationships with a so-called "intelligence" they don't understand.  And, while the development of AI is seen as ushering in a brave new world, those who are involved in this technology have to consider the type of world they are creating.   While the free market can be a force to unleash more powerful AI technology, there are needs for guardrails in order to prevent it from doing great harm.  As the Focus on the Family counselor rightly states, parents are part of the ecosystem who can communicate with their kids about the use of technology and the pursuit of artificial online relationships, in which artificial entities tell the users what is appealing for them to hear and even act upon.

The world is changing and responsibility is needed.  Joseph was a man in a world that was about to change - dramatically.  In God's abundant Providence, He chose him to be married to Mary, in order to provide a home in which He would grow up in the wisdom of his Heavenly Father.  Joseph was willing to take risks in order to obey God, walking in fearless obedience and responsible behavior.   Joseph and Mary provided an environment that God used to strengthen and encourage Jesus in his life and mission.