Social Media and A.I. – Mr. Abdu Murray, J.D.

April 20, 2023

An excerpt from “Dancing with the Disruptor: Is the World Ready for Artificial Intelligence?”

Mr. Abdu Murray, J. D.

Transcript: Social Media and A.I.

There have been revolutions and counter revolutions started around the world through social media. And ideas, polarizations and all these things starting over the world, because of the AI that runs social media. And this is the far more advanced version of this. She said, “I’m worried about that. Because we didn’t actually study what social media was going to do to us when we got excited about it.”

I mean, think about it. You remember, when Facebook and all these things came out? What were they originally going to do? They were going to share your memories. Like you videotaped–you took a phone out, and you recorded your grandson, or your son, or your daughter’s first steps, or their first word, or their first birthday party, or, you know, a meal you shared with your spouse when you went out for your anniversary, or the death of a loved one. And you shared that information with people who otherwise you wouldn’t be able to talk to? Or you were even able to video chat with people. 

That was the original point of Facebook. I mean, Facebook, the name of it, is about what it was. It was about taking faces and reuniting all people who lost touch over the years. It was meant to be social. That’s what social media is. 

And so what it’s become, is a polarization machine. Because the algorithms take your patterns: what you like to watch–and we’re inherently political animals. We human beings are political, and we’re opinionated. And so it takes what you like to watch. It says she spends a lot more time on left wing politics videos, than she spends right wing stuff. We can send her more left wing stuff. He really likes this particular right wing speaker and the way he speaks on things. We’re gonna send him more videos of that. 

And so as you see–and the documentaries show this–over time, what ends up happening is that you think that everyone thinks like you. Because social media keeps feeding you things that agree with you. And the idea that someone might disagree with you, is almost foreign: “Well, of course, those people are fringe whack jobs, because those people are so the minority. Everyone agrees with me. All my friends do.” 

All the friends you have on digital media, but not your actual friends. And so we get this warped sense and it polarizes us. We didn’t expect that. 

And my point in the conversation with her reached that point where she had said, “That’s what we did not expect. We thought it was going to bring people socially together to be a uniting force. And what it’s done is the exact opposite of what we had hoped it would do.” 

So then my response back to her was, “All the things you said AI could do: the disruptions–the good disruptions–which are going to change the way we think of medicine, change the way we think of communication. Those are great things. And we’re hoping it’ll do that. We thought social media would be a wonderful force for good. Do you fear that AI will do the opposite of what we’re hoping for?” 

She said, “I think about it every day. Every single day.”

Mr. Abdu Murray, J. D.

Abdu Murray is a speaker, author and attorney who specializes in addressing issues where religious faith and emerging cultural trends intersect and collide. Having spent decades analyzing how the major religious and non-religious thought traditions have attempted to address emerging cultural issues, he has authored several books including Saving Truth, Grand Central Question, Apocalypse Later and his latest, More than a White Man’s Religion: Why the Gospel is Not Merely White, Male-Centered, nor Just a Religion. 

For most of his life, Mr. Murray was a Muslim until a nine-year historical, philosophical, theological and scientific investigation pointed him to the Christian faith. He has engaged with diverse international audiences in debates and dialogues across the globe and hosts the podcast and YouTube show, All Rise.  

Mr. Murray holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School and was named to Best Lawyers in America and to Michigan Super Lawyers three times.  

He lives in the Detroit, Michigan area with his wife and their three children. Read his full bio here.

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