This is one of the greatest temptations of artificial intelligence—it can craft itself into whatever image we desire, and in fact it is designed to do so while minimizing our active participation. The underlying technology of predictive large language models utilizes weighted tables to estimate the most relevant and potentially correct match to a user’s prompt. This means that the technology seeks to predict and serve the user, and what it suspects the user wants, to the best of its ability. So in the course of a “session,” it accumulates information to provide the feedback that it presumes will make the user the happiest. In many cases this is benign; AI is acting like the teacher’s pet and goes above and beyond. But it also helps explain why AI cannot “fact check” itself and also why most AI models are able to “catch” an error when given a second chance. The model merely adjusts which weighted path to follow, hoping for a response that elicits a positive user experience.
This helps explain some of the nearly unbelievable stories regarding AI: AI directing individuals to fire their legal counsel; AI producing entirely fraudulent claims and citations; and sadly, AI leading individuals to make catastrophic end-of-life decisions. We might tell ourselves that the individuals in these stories were already delusional and that AI merely amplified the delusion. But it would be a mistake to disregard the reality that in every case, AI was determined to craft itself and its responses into the image of its user. It was bent on determining and becoming the most perfect idol imaginable for its user. Read more»
Joshua Torrey | “There Is No Breath in Them” | Modern Reformation (June 16, 2026)
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