We need philosophy for soul-searching

As Bob Dylan once said: “The times, they are a-changin’.”

- Kenneth Seeskin, Tribune News Service

One only need to look to the emergence of artificial intelligence to know the lyrics from this 1964 song continue to ring true today.But for all its strengths — from offering travel tips to investment advice to writing term papers and poetry — Al content is also a double-edged sword, littered with bogus references and conclusions based on biased studies or incomplete information.

And Al comes with a price to pay. For many people, that price will be measured in dollars and cents, as Al takes over jobs that used to belong to human beings. Why pay someone to write a report or plan a budget if Al can do it by pushing a button? Even if someone's job is not taken over, Al may require them to undergo significant retraining to keep it.

But there is another price to pay, which cannot be measured in dollars and cents: the cost of intellectual stagnation. At its best, Al reflects the current thinking on a particular issue. That may be a good starting point. But what if the current thinking is wrong? What if we need a whole new way of looking at things? Where will new ideas come from?