Steve Bannon, host of War Room, spoke with tech journalist Joe Allen about the growing dangers of dependence on artificial intelligence and the broader agenda of AI companies. According to Allen, this shift toward AI reliance is being carried out in calculated stages.
“Talk about the conference you spoke at,” Bannon prompted.
“We were just discussing the impact of artificial intelligence on the Church and religious life as a whole,” Allen responded.
Bannon raised concerns about prominent tech figures like Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk pushing the idea of AI companions.
“One of my concerns here is that in the last 24 to 48 hours that we’ve gotten real signals in messaging from Altman and from the Zuck that something is about to pop. Are you hearing that in the community?” Bannon asked.
Allen acknowledged the growing focus on artificial general intelligence (AGI). Bannon noted, “I know that people been promoting like Elon Musk with the AGI and it’s a couple years away or six years away, and it could be within a year. But this is the first time we’ve had these two guys focus on this issue of an AI companion.”
“Your thoughts sir?” Bannon asked.
“This push for AI companion, Steve, is basically the first sort of stage to get people completely dependent on these technologies. In some cases, we are talking about children using AI companions as teachers and others we are talking about presumably young adults that are basically relinquishing any chance of a true, deep romantic relationship by falling in love with robots,” Allen warned.
“Alongside that emotional bond, you’ve got that ever-present promise that the AI will be the source for information, the highest authority,” he continued.
“The idea is once human beings have normalized the idea that these entities, these non-human entities are trustworthy, are reliable for solid information and will solve problems that you are now convinced that you can’t solve yourself. Then we are set up for basically a kind of drone like existence,” Allen warned.
Bannon pressed further: “How do you think they are going to push this out? I mean you already see advertisements that you need an AI companion or you need an AI assistant. When do you think the big push to roll this out comes?”
Allen pointed to the 2020 COVID lockdowns as a turning point, explaining that the forced isolation and increased screen dependency made society more receptive to AI integration.
“Within the next year. It’s already here in some ways, but it’s more muted I think than it will be after it’s become more and more normalized. I don’t think much of any of this would be able to occur were it not for 2020 and the subsequent isolation, the widespread atomization, people becoming completely screen dependent,” Allen said.
