The Double-Edged Sword of Artificial Intelligence

Technology evolves up through our bodily members: first, it replaced the foot and hand—our will; then, our middle region, by reproducing images, sounds, and feelings; and now, human thought. Similar to our neurons, a network is now raising its head. A cry rings out…

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The cosmos and nature reveal an immeasurable wisdom. At one time, this wisdom was creative. Now, it’s no longer so, and even the harmony of the universe seems fragile.¹ We can speak of an “original cosmic intelligence.” This was once in the care of higher spiritual beings. They relinquished it, and it became the property of individual human beings. This enabled the individual to gain personal freedom. But freedom had to be taken in through our physical body. Real thoughts are spiritual in nature and have their seat in the etheric body of the human being. But the human being could only become independent through their physical body. As long as thoughts still lived in their etheric body, they didn’t really think as individuals. On the level of the intellectual soul, they sometimes imagined that they did and felt very good about that. But it was only with the later development of the consciousness soul that this has really become possible.²

Now it’s a matter of freely raising up the sunken power of judgment again. Only through this activity does a person truly develop consciousness of their humanity. Unfortunately, too few people put this into practice. It must be a free and individual activity. Through this activity, we ascend to ether-borne consciousness and yet can still bring along our acquired freedom and independence. No one compels us to do this.

The mass failure to make such an effort, however, is gradually becoming disastrous. For what is not seized out of freedom will in time become oppressive. It seems that this is happening today with our human ability of thinking.

Nerve Activity Is Being Technologized

Step by step, technology has received human abilities. It performs each ability in a limited and exaggerated way, but with tremendous power. Technology replaces willpower. First, it replaced our limbs. Then communication technologies emerged, and powerful images were produced. Music and sounds could be reproduced, though not recreated. This has now changed, as at least imitative and recombining creativity has entered the realm of technology. Slowly, technology climbed up the various members of the human body. It was only a matter of time before human nerve activity was also to be conquered. This is the case with so-called “artificial intelligence.” In German, we call it “KI” (“künstliche Intelligenz”); in English, “AI.”

The computer system of AI can perform tasks that were previously reserved only for humans, such as the perception, selection, reception, processing, and translation of speech, or the control of cars and robots. AI can absorb vast amounts of information, make connections, and, in a short time, produce something serviceable, all with the kind of logic implemented by computers and fully automated.

People are free to form their opinions about any form of technology, and they really must do so now. The more we understand technology, the better we can use it as a tool. Of course, machines, even intelligently networked computing devices, can never attain consciousness, let alone self-awareness. But they can simulate it by acquiring a certain know-how about themselves and gradually learning to program themselves further. Only humans are actually capable of making real judgments and decisions based on perception. Without receiving the creative work of countless people through appropriate training, AI would be incapable of anything. While many people are aware that AI undergoes training, the extent to which AI relies on the hard work of thousands of “annotators” remains largely hidden.³

New Wealth and New Poverty

What AI is already capable of is astonishing. There’s a business in China that supposedly allows AI to be at the helm, and there’s an actual AI minister of Albania (“Diella”). These developments are driven by astronomical sums of money. People are happy to invest money in the development of AI because it fulfills many expectations and raises even more. A few companies and individuals are becoming unimaginably rich as a result. At the same time, countless people are becoming impoverished, and many are likely to lose their work altogether in the future. Paradoxically, software programming is one of the professions whose relevance is rapidly declining. Routine work, in particular, is being done more efficiently with AI. This allows companies to make enormous savings. The impending upheaval in the world of work is only predictable in part and will certainly bring many unexpected outcomes. Even so, it’s already clear that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening, and the divide between “winners” and “losers” is constantly growing.

ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, is currently very popular, with millions of users—professionals and even more private individuals. People use it mostly for practical questions, followed closely by queries for information or writing assistance. It’s actually less used for computer programming. Other AI do that better. However, even if an AI can answer questions and is skilled with language, we must remember that we’re not dealing with a “person” whom we could communicate with in reality, but only a machine that is processing algorithms. Nevertheless, there may be a great anti-human higher being embodying itself within this entire system, enslaving countless elemental beings. Elemental beings can also be enchanted and bound within simple tools, such as hammers and pliers. But if someone believes they are speaking directly to this higher being through the AI, they are mistaken and have fallen for its trick.

The human nervous system connects myriad neurons with one another. When computers around the world began to be connected, a kind of “global brain” was created. In my view, it actually became a suitable body for that very powerful being.⁴ This being is now raising its head, so to speak, with AI. Many things have long carried its signature, but this was only noticed if one was paying close attention because this being prefers to hide. Now he’s staring right at us, asking the question: What exactly is the being of humanity? With previous years of technological dominance, the quintessentially human became limited to intellectual and creative abilities. Now AI is mimicking these abilities too. Globally encoded knowledge with capabilities available in an instant is a tremendously practical temptation.

What AI Demands

But “intellectual” is not synonymous with “spiritual” in this context. “Intellectual” refers exclusively to intelligence bound to the body, a kind of intelligence that acts with insurmountable speed. It is only because thinking became physicalized that it could become technologized. AI now forces us to reflect on our non-physical abilities. Fortunately, Rudolf Steiner indicated ways to develop non-physical thinking. Those who have embarked on these paths are now reasonably well equipped. AI has a bittersweet and threatening side. When we get help from technical devices, or when elemental beings are enchanted in them, we can be thankful for this. But we should be prepared for the dangers.

Nicanor Perlas, who passed away in the middle of August this year, wrote a significant book about the challenges posed by AI in the years before his death. Published in English in 2018, he wrote in the foreword:

Deployed properly, AI will confer tremendous benefit to society. It is already doing this. Deployed inappropriately or mistakenly, AI will undermine human civilization, as it is also starting to do, and could lead to the extinction of humanity. Scientists, philosophers, and engineers call this latter possibility the “existential risk” of AI. The fate of our future is literally in our hands.⁵

There are three stages of AI evolution: Weak AI (ANI, “Artificial Narrow or Weak Intelligence”), Strong or General AI (AGI, “Artificial General Intelligence”), and ultimately Artificial Superintelligence (ASI). Weak AI is limited to specific tasks and currently excels at receiving, processing, and producing human language; AGI is hypothesized to be able to perform any intellectual task that a human can; and ASI would surpass human intellect in every respect and make strategic decisions independently. What we have so far is only ANI. AGI seems only to exist in a potential infancy, which assumes, for example, that programmers will continue to discover how the human brain works. ASI is entirely hypothetical. With each level, the possibilities but also the dangers increase exponentially.

It’s easy to see that, for example, the vast quantities of photos and videos generated by AI have already plunged the world into a vortex of fake reality. Considering how much further this could go, the distinguished and experienced Hungarian diplomat Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th United Nations General Assembly, said, “Humanity in its long history has never met intelligence higher than ours. Within a few years, we will. But we are far from being prepared for it in terms of regulations, safeguards, and governance.”⁶

What would be an appropriate preparation? Nicanor Perlas wrote his book on AI as a wake-up call to those interested in anthroposophy. He wanted to “encourage the [global anthroposophical movement] to converge together with the other diverse identities of the world.”⁷ There are spiritual movements related to anthroposophy both within Europe and without. We need not be deterred by the fact that they often seem very different. We are united in our aspirations. The attitude of the former co-director of the Agricultural Section, Jean-Michel Florin, towards the understanding of nature by indigenous peoples is a good example.⁸

There is much to learn from non-European and other forms of thinking, such as a non-objectifying view of nature. Object thinking has borne much valuable fruit, notably Western science and the emancipation of the individual. But it has also brought about the current life-threatening global crises. This has led to a growing desire for a different way of thinking. The convergence suggested by Nicanor Perlas could lead to a union of individual human freedom with older, non-predicative, and non-objectifying ways of thinking. Anthroposophy would be particularly suited to this union, as it has always combined a spiritual perspective with the achievement of individual freedom. The coming together of the anthroposophical movement with other streams could result in a powerful avant-garde.

Anthroposophy and other identities have much to offer each other, but development should not be regressive—rather, it must lead forward. New perspectives are just as important as joint action. In this sense, I believe, along with Nicanor Perlas, that the convergence described above will enable us to master the challenge posed by AI.

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Translation Joshua Kelberman
Image Wiring a server to connect computers. Photo: Yuriy Vertikov/Unsplash

1. See David Auerbach, “Does the Cosmos Resonate—or Not?” Goetheanum Weekly (October 10, 2025).
2. Rudolf Steiner, Leitsätze—Leading Thoughts. Bilingual Edition, CW 26 (Arlesheim, Switzerland: Ita Wegman Institute, 2024).
3. See Josh Dzieza, “KI ist harte Arbeit” [AI is hard work] Merkur 77, no. 894 (November 2023): 30–48.
4. See Martin Kollewijn, “Die Inkarnation | Ahrimans” [The Incarnation | Ahriman’s] Anthroposophie (Easter 2024).
5. Nicanor Perlas, Humanity’s Last Stand: The Challenge of Artificial Intelligence, A Spiritual-Scientific Response (Forest Row, East Sussex: Temple Lodge Publishing, 2018), 1; see a recent review: Karl-Reinhard Kummer, “Collective Human Intelligence,” Das Goetheanum: English Edition (September 11, 2025).
6. Csaba Kőrösi, “What Signatories Say,” Red-Lines.AI, accessed October 17, 2025. Stephen Hawking predicted that AI would be “either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity.” Alex Hern, “Stephen Hawking: AI will be ‘either best or worst thing’ for humanity,” The Guardian (October 19, 2016). Microsoft founder Bill Gates also warned of the possible consequences of AI: “Bill Gates on dangers of artificial intelligence: ‘I don’t understand why some people are not concerned,’” The Washington Post (January 28, 2015).
7. See footnote 5, p. 6.
8. See Jean-Michel Florin, “Common Roots,” Goetheanum Weekly (May 27, 2022).