CAT 2024 Slot 3 · VARC · RC passage 4: AI and the Operating System of Civilisation

The full passage and all 4 questions (Q21–Q24) from CAT 2024 Slot 3, with answers and solutions.

The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.

Fears of artificial intelligence (AI) have haunted humanity since the very beginning of the computer age. Hitherto, these fears focused on machines using physical means to kill, enslave or replace people. But over the past couple of years, new AI tools have emerged that threaten the survival of human civilisation from an unexpected direction. AI has gained some remarkable abilities to manipulate and generate language, whether with words, sounds or images. AI has thereby hacked the operating system of our civilisation.

Language is the stuff almost all human culture is made of. Human rights, for example, aren’t inscribed in our DNA. Rather, they are cultural artefacts we created by telling stories and writing laws. Gods aren’t physical realities. Rather, they are cultural artefacts we created by inventing myths and writing scriptures….What would happen once a non-human intelligence becomes better than the average human at telling stories, composing melodies, drawing images, and writing laws and scriptures? When people think about Chatgpt and other new AI tools, they are often drawn to examples like schoolchildren using AI to write their essays. What will happen to the school system when kids do that? But this kind of question misses the big picture. Forget about school essays. Think of the next American presidential race in 2024, and try to imagine the impact of AI tools that can be made to mass-produce political content, fake news stories and scriptures for new cults…

Through its mastery of language, AI could even form intimate relationships with people, and use the power of intimacy to change our opinions and worldviews. Although there is no indication that AI has any consciousness or feelings of its own, to foster fake intimacy with humans, it is enough if the AI can make them feel emotionally attached to it….

What will happen to the course of history when AI takes over culture, and begins producing stories, melodies, laws and religions? Previous tools like the printing press and radio helped spread the cultural ideas of humans, but they never created new cultural ideas of their own. AI is fundamentally different. AI can create completely new ideas, completely new culture….Of course, the new power of AI could be used for good purposes as well. I won’t dwell on this because the people who develop AI talk about it enough….

We can still regulate the new AI tools, but we must act quickly. Whereas nukes cannot invent more powerful nukes, AI can make exponentially more powerful AI.… Unregulated AI deployments would create social chaos, which would benefit autocrats and ruin democracies. Democracy is a conversation, and conversations rely on language. When AI hacks language, it could destroy our ability to have meaningful conversations, thereby destroying democracy …. And the first regulation I would suggest is to make it mandatory for AI to disclose that it is an AI. If I am having a conversation with someone, and I cannot tell whether it is a human or an AI—that’s the end of democracy. This text has been generated by a human. Or has it?

Question 21 · RC Detail and Fact Based Questions

The author identifies all of the following as dire outcomes of the capture of language by AI EXCEPT that it could
  1. A
    spawn a completely new culture through its ability to create new ideas and opinions.
  2. B
    out-strip human creativity and endeavours in the spheres such as art and music and, in the formulation of laws.
  3. C
    eventually subvert democratic processes through the mass creation and spread of fake political content and news.
  4. D
    apply its mastery of language to create strong emotional ties which could exacerbate the polarization of political views.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option D

The author names these dangers: AI 'can create completely new ideas, completely new culture' (option 1); it may become 'better than the average human at telling stories, composing melodies, drawing images, and writing laws' (option 2); and it can 'mass-produce political content, fake news stories', threatening democracy (option 3).

Option 4 says AI could create emotional ties that 'exacerbate the polarization of political views'. The author does say AI could form intimate relationships and 'use the power of intimacy to change our opinions and worldviews', but he never mentions polarisation. The option adds that idea.

Shortcut: watch for an option that starts with a real point from the passage and ends with an extra consequence. The added consequence – here polarisation – makes it the exception.

Hence, the answer is option 4.

Question 22 · RC Detail and Fact Based Questions

The author terms language “the operating system of our civilization” for all the following reasons EXCEPT that it
  1. A
    can influence political views and opinions as it engenders close emotional ties among people.
  2. B
    is the basis of AI tools like ChatGPT which can be used to generate academic content and opinion.
  3. C
    is fundamental to the articulation and spread of human values and culture in our society.
  4. D
    has laid the foundation for the creation of cultural artefacts through writing and telling of stories.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option B

Language is 'the operating system of our civilisation' because 'language is the stuff almost all human culture is made of': human rights and gods are 'cultural artefacts we created by telling stories and writing laws' and 'inventing myths' (options 3 and 4). Through intimacy, language can also 'change our opinions and worldviews' (option 1).

Option 2 – language is the basis of AI tools like ChatGPT – is not why the author calls it civilisation's operating system. ChatGPT appears in the passage as an example of a narrow worry (school essays) that 'misses the big picture'.

Shortcut: separate the reason for a label from examples that merely appear nearby. The label 'operating system' describes language's role in human culture, not its role in AI.

Hence, the answer is option 2.

Question 23 · RC Inference Questions

We can infer that the author is most likely to agree with which of the following statements?
  1. A
    People’s fears of the dangers of students using ChatGPT and other new AI tools are unfounded.
  2. B
    The commonly expressed fear that future AI developments will fatally harm humans is unfounded.
  3. C
    Apart from its drawbacks, AI tools have been beneficial in boosting technological and industrial advance worldwide.
  4. D
    One of the biggest casualties from the spread of unregulated AI is likely to be the democratic process.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option D

The author warns that 'unregulated AI deployments would create social chaos, which would benefit autocrats and ruin democracies', and that 'when AI hacks language, it could destroy our ability to have meaningful conversations, thereby destroying democracy'. He ends: if you cannot tell a human from an AI, 'that's the end of democracy'.

Option 4, that democracy is likely to be one of the biggest casualties, matches.

Option 1 overstates. The author says the school-essay worry 'misses the big picture', not that it is unfounded.

Option 2 contradicts him; he believes AI threatens civilisation, just from a new direction.

Option 3 is about technological and industrial benefits. The author declines to discuss AI's benefits ('I won't dwell on this').

Shortcut: for 'most likely to agree' questions, find the claim the author repeats. Democracy comes up three times in the last paragraph.

Hence, the answer is option 4.

Question 24 · RC Tone and Attitude

The tone of the passage could best be described as
  1. A
    cautionary, because the author lays out some adverse effects of the proliferation of unregulated AI tools.
  2. B
    prescient, as the author analyses the future impact of the use of new AI tools on crucial areas of our society and culture.
  3. C
    alarmist, because the passage discusses scenarios of the influence of new AI tools on language and human emotions.
  4. D
    quizzical, as the passage poses several questions, concluding with the question of whether or not the passage content has been generated by AI.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option A

The author describes specific dangers of AI's mastery of language – fake political content, fake intimacy, AI-made culture, harm to democracy – and calls for quick regulation: 'We can still regulate the new AI tools, but we must act quickly.' He warns and recommends action.

Option 1, cautionary, fits.

Option 2 (prescient) praises the author for foresight – a judgment of the author, not a description of tone.

Option 3 (alarmist) implies exaggerated, unfounded fear; the author argues calmly and offers a concrete regulation.

Option 4 (quizzical) seizes on the questions and the final 'Or has it?', but these are rhetorical; the passage is not puzzled.

Shortcut: a passage that lays out dangers and then proposes a remedy is cautionary. 'Alarmist' requires panic without reasoning.

Hence, the answer is option 1.

Take this paper as a timed test
Real exam timing, instant score, rank and topic-wise analysis.

Practice timed →