A Christian Response to A.I.

(The following is a brief article I submitted to my local paper's "Clergy Corner" where various pastors in my area rotate in writing articles for the community. I believe it addresses a growing concern for the church we are only beginning to recognize.)

 The Tower of Babel (Bruegel) - Wikipedia

We usually identify it with two simple letters, A.I., which stands for Artificial Intelligence.   For a long time, it felt like the stuff of science fiction.  Either a very capable friend to assist or enemy to avoid and fear, advanced technology has often been anything but neutral or benign.  The sci-fi movies often portrayed it in apocalyptic images where our own sophisticated devices and inventions eventually turned on humanity, such as in the Terminator series with its cybernetic assassins generated by the ominous seemingly all-powerful computer network Skynet.  

Well, these movies now seem less fiction and more real, and their reality feels just as dangerous as the films once envisioned.  For the Christian it poses new challenges and risks.  Recently Pope Benedict XVI issued his own warning, telling the world that we need to ‘disarm’ this technology before it becomes our enemy.  That’s ominous coming from such a well-known Christian leader.

Aside from the worries of AI replacing or eliminating jobs (a real concern we are still trying to unpack) and changing the culture into a sterile human-less landscape of virtual images and cold machines, I imagine another issue for the church.  And the picture I see is a return to Babel in Genesis 11.  Here early humanity, in open rebellion against God, decided to use their own technology to “make a name” for themselves.  God notes that their efforts will only be the “beginning of what they will do.”  “Nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them.”  Like Satan in the garden luring Eve into sin and rebellion (Genesis 3), they were lured into a desire to “be like God.” 

A.I., in its own way, is a kind of Babel experiment that seeks unlimited intelligence and power, even to exceed humanity’s own abilities.  Aside from the dangers warned by the Pope, which are legitimate and worth our attention, the greater issue, I think, is the out-of-control effects of sin’s desire to be like God.  No matter how advanced, A.I. cannot grow greater than the Almighty.  That’s not my concern. But its ability to lead people away from the true God and deceive them into false security is a demonic tool too tempting for many to resist.   

So, how should a Christian respond?  I don’t pretend to have all the answers.  This reality is relatively new in its current form and is advancing at a dizzying speed.  And I’m not a luddite who resists advancement and technology. I own and use several cyber-tools.  I’m simply cautious realizing that not all development seeks to serve God’s purposes and is always healthy for the believer.  Like Babel.  The more we can do, the more independent we become, the less we need God.  Yet the Christian life is based on servanthood to God, where weakness and dependence on Him is a virtue and blessing. 

We are already seeing the downsides to advanced cyber technology.  The explosion of social media via the smart phone has literally destroyed countless young lives and injured their ability to learn and stunted their maturity and independence.  Tools, no matter how helpful, are often double-edged swords.  If we are not discerning, we risk falling into traps of our own making that trade the goodness of creation and the reality of God’s presence and the strength of the Christian community for a world empty of love, devoid of real hope, and a potential enemy of faith itself. 

Technology is not morally neutral, even though many will see it that way.  If not managed by solid ethics it will serve only self-centered and self-serving purposes, with the potential to eventually serve itself, independent of its human creators.  And if we become dependent on it, we risk being pulled into its eventual control and manipulation. 

We are God’s people, created in His image, purchased by the blood of Christ that paid for our sins, that presents us holy before Him.  We need to be aware of anything that destroys this truth within us and lures us away from God by giving us another god.  Christian beware! Be discerning. Test everything against the truth of God’s Word.  Let tools be servants, not masters.  We are rapidly entering into new realms for which we have not always prepared ourselves.  Now is the time to prepare and be aware.

 

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