The rise of the AI agent - Bhagavad Gita ch4:8

We have recently entered a new era in technology, namely that of the AI agent. More than a mere algorithm or bot, these Artificial Intelligence agents have been programmed to be even smarter than humans. They are LLMs (large language models), or GPTs (Generative Pre-trained Transformers).

This means they are:
Generative - can generate original text or image content.
Pre-trained - taught on large data sets
Transformers - can transform an input into another new output.

These sophisticated bots are programs that can be so well trained that they exceed any human ability in the world today.

Not only are they super specialized but they are also generally skilled. No longer are they only customized to specialize in unique niche fields, but some are also trained in all round general knowledge too. And that's where they really stand out.

Such agents can revolutionize work, output and productivity like never before, allowing people more time for art, philosophical inquiry and meditation.

The future lies in wait for those who can master the skill of prompting the agents correctly; and those who succeed in merging human skill with AI agent assistance are the people who will win out in the future.

We'll no longer need to do everything manually ourselves. We'll just train our personalized agent to do our work for us, while we play.

I use this contemporary analogy to illustrate the power that we have when we harness our agents.

Similarly, the gods of old sometimes descend to earth from their celestial realm, according to the ancient Wisdom traditions.

More so in the long distant past, no longer so today. Nowadays the gods just send their agents, while they stay home and play.

If you're so powerful then you would also delegate, to your assistant or agent, all the simpler tasks while you concentrate on the most important stuff, like having fun or enjoying pastimes.

AI agents are, of course, non-sentient. They are programs or robots, only as good as their programming. However, they are beginning to enter the realm of autonomous action, based on that programming.

We too are basically running on our programming, which is our DNA. We are obliged to operate within its parameters. It drives us on, we simply get pulled along by it, with very little free will actually.

Yet, within us is our original eternal spark of consciences, and a spark of the divine, our original creator. Individuality that existed before we took this body and its DNA limitations or framework.

And as a part and parcel of the original source, any one of us can become empowered to act as an agent of the source, a hand of the original architect. Such a person, who is deputed to act as agent for the source, may be labeled a Buddha or Messiah or avatar.

And such agents have walked among us and will do so in future, acting as an agent of transformation, as a transformer, enacting the grand plan while the director stays home and plays.

So on one level we're the operator and controller of our new AI agents, yet on another deeper level we are, at best, the agents for the original consciousness running the cosmos.

At worst most of us are rogue bots, running around malfunctioning and running into brick walls due to poor programming, unable to act outside of our DNA parameters.

So either you're a good agent or a bad robot, you decide. However, you're never the master or controller, despite all your fantasies to the contrary.

You're now being made redundant by an AI agent that can do anything better and faster than you today. So rather than try to Lord it over the material energy with your faulty programming, simply surrender to your natural position as a good agent for the original controller and developer, the causeless cause of all causes.

Follow the prompts on how to succeed in this human form, how to act, what to avoid, and you can make a success of this agency delegated to you.

Ignore the directives and try to act independantly, or out of alignment, and you will learn the hard way how powerless you really are.

As AGI (artifical general intelligence) and ASI (artificial super intelligence) arrive now, and AI agents excel in all fields, better than all of us, we'll soon realize that our human ability is feeble compared to the rise of the AI agents.

Once put in our place we'll realize that learning and data are not enough to succeed. Our creativity and ingenuity is not enough to make us a success any more. We're becoming redundant as workers, even as thinkers and creators.

That's when we'll realize that our real skill as human beings is as loving, caring, compassionate carers for each other, for the planet and all life, and ultimately that our value lies in remembering our duty as agents for the greater plan of the original plan maker. Something no robot can replace.

Bhagavad Gita ch4:8

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge

SYNONYMS
paritrāṇāya—for the deliverance; sādhūnām—of the devotees; vināśāya—for the annihilation; ca—also; duṣkṛtām—of the miscreants; dharma—principles of religion; saṁsthāpana-arthāya—to reestablish; sambhavāmi—I do appear; yuge—millennium; yuge—after millennium

TRANSLATION
In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.

PURPORT
According to Bhagavad-gītā, a sādhu (holyman) is a man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A person may appear to be irreligious, but if he has the qualifications of Kṛṣṇa consciousness wholly and fully, he is to be understood to be a sādhu. And duṣkṛtam applies to one who doesn't care for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Such miscreants, or duṣkṛtam, are described as foolish and the lowest of mankind, even though they may be decorated with mundane education; whereas another person, who is one hundred percent engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is accepted as sādhu, even though such a person may neither be learned nor well cultured. As far as the atheistic are concerned, it is not necessary for the Supreme Lord to appear as He is to destroy them, as He did with the demons Rāvaṇa and Kaṁsa. The Lord has many agents who are quite competent to vanquish demons. But the Lord especially descends to appease His unalloyed devotees, who are always harassed by the demonic. The demon harasses the devotee, even though the latter may happen to be his kin. Although Prahlāda Mahārāja was the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was nonetheless persecuted by his father; although Devakī, the mother of Kṛṣṇa, was the sister of Kaṁsa, she and her husband Vasudeva were persecuted only because Kṛṣṇa was to be born of them. So Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared primarily to deliver Devakī, rather than kill Kaṁsa, but both were performed simultaneously. Therefore it is said here that to deliver the devotee and vanquish the demon miscreants, the Lord appears in different incarnations.
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, the following verses summarize these principles of incarnation:
sṛṣṭi-hetu yei mūrti prapañce avatare
sei īśvara-mūrti 'avatāra' nāma dhare
māyātita paravyome savāra avasthāna
viśve 'avatāri' dhare 'avatāra' nāma.
"The avatāra, or incarnation of Godhead, descends from the kingdom of God for material manifestation. And the particular form of the Personality of Godhead who so descends is called an incarnation, or avatāra. Such incarnations are situated in the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. When they descend to the material creation, they assume the name avatāra."
There are various kinds of avatāras, such as puruṣāvatāras, guṇāvatāras, līlāvatāras, śaktyāveśa avatāras, manvantara-avatāras and yugāvatāras—all appearing on schedule all over the universe. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is the primeval Lord, the fountainhead of all avatāras. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends for the specific purposes of mitigating the anxieties of the pure devotees, who are very anxious to see Him in His original Vṛndāvana pastimes. Therefore, the prime purpose of the Kṛṣṇa avatāra is to satisfy His unalloyed devotees.
The Lord says that He incarnates Himself in every millennium. This indicates that He incarnates also in the age of Kali. As stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the incarnation in the age of Kali is Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who spread the worship of Kṛṣṇa by the saṅkīrtana movement (congregational chanting of the holy names), and spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout India. He predicted that this culture of saṅkīrtana would be broadcast all over the world, from town to town and village to village. Lord Caitanya as the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is described secretly but not directly in the confidential parts of the revealed scriptures, such as the Upaniṣads, Mahābhārata, Bhāgavatam, etc. The devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa are much attracted by the saṅkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya. This avatāra of the Lord does not kill the miscreants, but delivers them by the causeless mercy of the Lord.

Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A C Bhaktivedanta, original MacMillan 1972 edition, freely available at prabhupadabooks.com.

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