What is so ‘artificial’ in the technology of artificial intelligence (AI)? Originally from ‘artifice’ and synonymous with ‘trickery,’ ‘deception,’ and ‘craftiness,’ the Latin origin artificium of this adjective implies handicraft or product of human hands so inspired through interaction with nature.
Born out of Man’s interaction with the closest thing in his own nature, the intellect, those in the field of AI strive continually to make it capable of, quoting its pioneer Herbert Simon in 1965, “doing any work a man can do.”
The Islamic perspective affirms creative technology as knowledge taught by prophets. In Surah Hud (11:37), the story of Prophet Nuh’s construction (sin‘ah) of the Ark under the guidance and providence of God in anticipation of the Great Flood reveals the spiritual dimension of technology.
In the context of the verse, technology becomes a means to carry out Divine Will and, in the process, the tool to save believers from mortal danger.
God declares that while Man is responsible for the result of his choice and handicraft (Surah al-Rum, 30:41), the Holy Qur’an also states that it is God who inspires Man in the first place (Surah al-Shams, 91:8).
However, there are those who lose their handiwork (sun‘a) by denying God and the meeting with Him in the Hereafter (Surah al-Kahf, 18:104).
According to Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1210) in his al-Tafsir al-Kabir (The Major Exegesis),they are people described in the early part of Surah al-Kahf who have lost the metaphysical foundation for moral action, manifesting in their boast of superiority in capital – material wealth and followers – to the poor and destitute among the Muslims.
It is not inconceivable that such people have the propensity to become the creators of unfair situations who participate in drawing up policies which are destructive to proper livelihoods.
Without a guiding religious principle or a just philosophical framework in the way work is being (re)defined in the age of AI, it is easy to veer off course and make all kinds of wrong decisions and trajectories, ultimately creating the conditions of injustice.
For people of discernment, before long the question of ‘what is it worth for’ would turn into ‘what is it for.’
Why shouldn’t it? Despite the promise of technological upheaval, job loss in the millions due to the global pandemic is exposing serious flaws in the present economic set-up.
This is on top of the threats that have been realized with the advancement of automation, robotics, and AI: job elimination, mass unemployment, cyberterrorism, autonomous killer drones, and autocratic government, all of which do not bode well for the AI scorecard.
Contrasting the relegation of the intellect as the tool of oppression, the Islamic perspective esteems and exalts mankind for the distinct and unique quality of intelligence.
A Prophetic Tradition narrated by Dawud ibn Mahbar in his book al-‘Aql (The Intellect) summarily informs that it is through the intellect that human beings obtain knowledge, guidance, mercy, and admonishment.
Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) explains in his Kitab al-‘Ilm (The Book of Knowledge, the first book in his 40-book Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din) that apart from being the cognitive spiritual organ the intellect is also capable of hiyal, a term taken to mean the ability to “devise scheme and strategies.”
The Qur’anic use of the same term in Surah al-Nisa (4:98) refers to a way out from difficult or oppressive situations.
From its root word hala, which means ‘to change,’ ‘to undergo a change,’ ‘to be transformed,’ ‘to shift,’ ‘to turn,’ or ‘to depart from a customary behaviour,’ hiyal means the act of planning and devising, as well as the skill and ability to properly govern or administer affairs, people, or institutions out of harm or danger.
As a technical term employed in Usul al-Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), hiyal is synonymous with the use of creativity to overcome a difficulty with regards to the laws of Shari‘ah especially related to economic activities, so long as it does not directly contradict the Shari‘ah.
It is widely used in transactions (mu‘amalah) in order to enable the fulfilment of the needs and necessities of contracting parties, whose absence would otherwise make transaction difficult to the point it disrupts the financial system already in place under certain conditions.
Understanding the above conceptual scheme can better position AI as the technology that ‘saves’ people from the mortal danger posed by the ‘Great Flood’ of difficulties and challenges in the current age.
