Tech wise

MADE IN OUR IMAGE:
God, artificial intelligence and you
By Stephen Driscoll
Matthias Media. 192 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 922 980 199

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will have a profound impact on our society in future years. Stephen Driscoll thinks through the possible implications from a Christian perspective. All technologies are gifts from God, but all can be abused by human sin. AI is a good gift from God, but humans are more than capable of misusing it.

Driscoll argues that AI will precipitate a crisis in human identity. Since evolution became the dominant explanation of human origins, humans have been seeking to justify our supremacy by our higher abilities and creativity than animals. But what happens when something more able and creative comes along? Humanity is dethroned to just being meat-based algorithms. This provides an opportunity for the gospel. A Christian’s true identity does not come from our ability, but from being made in the image of God and adopted as His sons.

As with all other technologies, AI will be abused. Authoritarian regimes will use it to increase the surveillance of their populations. Large language models like ChatGPT have learned from the worst of humanity and replicates it; or it will tell us what we want to hear, offering no correction to our sinful desires. These threats will have to be navigated by the church and individual Christians.

Conversely, a moral AI could be even more dangerous. It would see the sinfulness of mankind, but there would be no grace. Would it work to wipe out humanity to achieve a ‘higher’ goal? Or would it become a false God? But it would never be able to match God’s mercy in Christ in taking on human flesh and dying for us.

AI has great potential to further foster human idolatry, as well as remaking our society with all the unpredictable effects. This book will help its readers develop a Christian mind on the subject. It is strong on the threats and the gospel answer for these. The question remains on how we can use it for good beyond being a productivity tool, as it is not going away.