'Hangover' star Zach Galifianakis says he's 'very afraid' AI pushing society toward 'biting the apple again'

Actor and comedian Zach Galifianakis says he is "very afraid" about whether the seemingly unstoppable rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is paving the way for another “Garden of Eden” moment in human history.

Best known for the “Hangover” movie trilogy, Galifianakis, 56, made the comments in a May 4 episode of the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast in which he expressed reverence for God’s creation and questioned, as a self-identified agnostic, why humanity would not honor creation if a Creator indeed exists.

“I want you to pay attention to how much concrete is around you versus greenery,” he said. “If there's a God that made all this stuff, why not respect it and the other things that this God has made?”

He quickly added that he posed that question as “someone that has no idea if there's a God or not. But if there is, why is it the simplest thing to respect the Earth and the humans and the animals on it?

Galifianakis, who was reportedly baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church as a child, singled out the broader push for AI into all spheres of human existence as a sort of modern reenactment of the biblical Fall, invoking the image of Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

“This is where humans are going with AI,” Galifianakis said. “I don't know if I'm old-fashioned or maybe it's ‘cause I'm 56 now, but I think this whole AI thing, and I don't mean for medicine, it’s got a lot of great things. Otherwise, though, I think it's another, like, biblical, in the biblical term of ‘biting the apple’ again. I just am very afraid of it. “ 

Beyond the “Terminator” scenario of a rogue AI, Galifianakis said his concerns extend far beyond show business, particularly “the dudes that are designing it,” an apparent reference to AI entrepreneurs like Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who are locked in a legal battle over the future of the company the pair co-founded in 2015.

Galifianakis said men like Musk and Altman “have math minds” that may not always work in the best interest of the world at large.

“There's very little wisdom coming out of that pocket of the world,” he said. “Almost none.”

Likening the current era to the chaotic “OK Corral phase” of a new technological frontier, Galifianakis voiced optimism that increased regulation — and potentially hard-learned lessons — will eventually bring guardrails to the AI boom, similar to collective responses to other historic disruptive innovations like the printing press.

“I worry about the lack of human connection with that stuff. And maybe it just is not as needed as we think it is,” he said. “But this world, this tech stuff, I've always worried about it.”

The former "Between Two Ferns" host appeared on “Conan” to promote “This Is a Gardening Show,” his new Netflix series based on his 25 years of gardening experience, which features short 15-minute episodes in which Galifianakis learns various self-sustenance techniques and ends each episode with the tagline “The future is agrarian.”