Lessons That Linger: 30. AI, Our Friend, Philosopher & Guide, 22 09 2025

AI, our Friend, Philosopher & Guide? 22 09 2025

I think the phrase friend, philosopher and guide, is used very liberally without much thought. I for one can only count a handful as such. Hence before I use it, I want to be doubly careful and ensure that it passes certain filters before applying it to my current obsession AI. Can AI be our friend, philosopher and guide? To answer, I take a two-step approach of first defining them and checking if AI fits the bill.

A friend to me is one who meets the four criteria: who knows you, has your best interest at heart, is available when required, and speaks his mind. Evaluating AI on these four parameters, it passes three of these by a clear margin, the only issue on which I have a doubt is -does AI have your best interest at heart? I wonder why will tech-majors, the self-serving commercial giants, provide it to you free of cost? But if we can control our consumer appetite, can we negate this?

AI as a philosopher is a much easier question to answer. Philosophers are lovers of wisdom and have the capability for higher order thinking reflected in comprehensive analysis, dispassionate evaluation and objective synthesis. On all the three counts, AI scores, for it accesses all digitized content on the internet and can provide answers of varying length and depth as desired.

A good guide is knowledgeable about the terrain we want to cover and is aware of the seeker’s capability and constraints. Of the two criteria, AI scores on the knowledge front for it is generic and accessing all the knowledge on the internet. When it comes to seeker’s capability and capacity, I believe AI is only as good as the what the seeker demands. Here the quality of questions or prompts as it is called in AI is the key. It is up to the seeker to calibrate the level at which they need guidance.           

Being positively disposed to AI I have ticked most of the boxes for it to qualify as a Friend, Philosopher and Guide. For the few gaps that exist, I believe both AI and the individual can grow to fill and complete it. Do you think I am on the right path or being foolishly optimistic?