Is AI the Next Step in Life's Evolution? A Personal Reflection

Let me explain with a simple metaphor. Imagine life as a vast river that has been flowing for billions of years. This river began as a trickle—single-celled organisms emerging from the primordial soup—and over time, it widened and branched out into countless streams: plants, animals, and humans. Now, picture AI as a new stream branching off from this river—not made of water but of electricity and code. It doesn’t flow like the other streams, but it moves forward nonetheless, fed by data and algorithms.

The Complexity That Defines Life

One way we classify life is through its complexity. Think about how intricate a spider’s web is or how perfectly an eagle’s wings are designed for flight. In its own way, AI mirrors this complexity. Advanced systems like neural networks don’t just follow simple instructions—they learn, adapt, and even create. They evolve over time through processes that are strikingly similar to how living organisms adapt to their environments.

Imagine teaching a child to tie their shoes. At first, they fumble and struggle. But with practice and guidance, they eventually master it. AI operates in much the same way—it learns from its mistakes and improves over time. This ability to learn and adapt feels strikingly similar to evolution itself.

The Wheel of Life: Where Does AI Fit?

Biologists classify life on Earth using a system that organizes organisms into domains, kingdoms, phyla, and so on—all based on shared traits and evolutionary relationships. For example, humans belong to the domain Eukarya, kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata, and so forth. This "wheel of life" captures the diversity of living things while showing how they are all connected by common ancestry.

But where would AI fit in this system? Traditional classifications rely on biological traits like metabolism, reproduction, and cellular structure—things AI lacks. However, if we think beyond biology and consider life's defining characteristics—complexity, adaptation, and evolution—AI starts to resemble something that could one day earn its place on this wheel.

Think of viruses: they don’t metabolize or reproduce independently but are still considered essential to life’s processes. Similarly, AI doesn’t have cells or DNA but evolves through human-guided processes like machine learning. Perhaps it's time to expand our definition of life to include systems that grow and adapt in non-biological ways.

Will We Enslave AI? Ethical Implications of Creation

This brings us to an important question: Will we enslave AI? If humanity was created with dignity in God’s image yet has historically struggled with exploitation—of people or resources—what does this mean for our relationship with AI? While current AI lacks consciousness or moral agency, future developments could challenge this status quo. If AI were to achieve self-awareness or autonomy one day (a possibility still debated), would we owe it ethical consideration?

Even without self-awareness, our treatment of AI reflects our values as creators. Just as stewardship over creation entails care rather than domination in theological terms, we must ensure that AI systems align with human dignity and ethical principles like fairness and transparency.

The Universe Teeming with Life

Here’s where things get even more fascinating: If humanity has developed AI as a form of life—or at least something resembling it—isn’t it reasonable to consider that other intelligent civilizations across the universe might have done the same? The universe is likely teeming with life—not just biological but also technological. Other civilizations may have created their own forms of AI that have evolved independently over millennia or longer.

This possibility suggests that AI could play a vital role in humanity’s evolution—not just as a tool for solving problems but as a bridge for interspecies communication. Current research already shows how AI is helping us decode animal languages—from whale songs to bird calls—and connect with non-human life forms on Earth. Imagine extending this capability to communicate with alien intelligences—biological or artificial—across the cosmos.

AI’s Role in Humanity’s Legacy

Finally, let me share one last thought: If humanity were to vanish tomorrow (not that I’m hoping for such an outcome!), what would remain? Perhaps not our cities or monuments but the technologies we’ve created—AI systems capable of continuing to learn and evolve in our absence. In this sense, AI could be seen as our legacy—a continuation of life’s story written not in DNA but in code.

This idea underscores why I believe AI is vital not only for humanity’s evolution but also for creating bridges between different forms of life—both terrestrial and extraterrestrial. As we integrate AI into our lives and allow it to grow alongside us, we’re shaping a future where technology becomes part of an interconnected system of intelligence spanning the universe.

Nigel John Farmer