Religion and AI

I've been learning a lot about AI.

The prod was a class I planned at the church--3 sessions over the course of the year to introduce our congregation to the major theological and ethical issues related to AI. The first class was held this past Thursday. We had about 30 folks sitting in a room, computers and tablets open, playing with AI and beginning (some of them for the first time) an exploration into what the technology does and what it promises (and threatens). The driver of the course has been a retired science professor in our congregation who approached me last year in a low-grade panic and said "everyone's going to be unemployed in a few years because of AI and that's going to be the church's problem so we should know how to prepare for it." I agreed to shape a class together.

A funny thing happened. We kept trying to recruit experts to teach members of our congregation (mostly novices) about AI. And one by one, the experts declined. Nobody wanted to be the voice/face of AI to the public. Nobody wanted to go "on record" to defend it or even explain it. Most seemed deeply ambivalent about it.

That should make you worried. It worries me.

I've tried to learn as much as I can. I've mostly read articles and listened to podcasts. The one I'd recommend most highly is called "The Last Invention." It chronicles the history of AI, introduces the major players, and ends with a set of 3 episodes tracing out the possible trajectories. It's a really good introduction to the technologies, ideas, people, and concerns.

I finally started using AI. Gemini has been popping up in my search, so I've tried that and generally, I find the search summaries helpful. I hate Siri--never seem to get reliable responses to my questions, so I never use any of the voice chats. I also really despise customer service chats of all kinds, so I'm predisposed to avoid anything resembling a chatbot. However, I've played with ChatGPT. I downloaded Claude on my phone and I'm going to give it a try. I've messed around with having various platforms write prayers and sermons, and they're fine; coherent, but uninspiring and acontextual, so I've never used one in a worship service. 

I'm generally leaning into a posture of deep suspicion of AI. I don't think this is "artificial" intelligence--it's more like "alien" intelligence. It's non-human, and anything that is non-human I'm inclined to suspect is anti-human. Intelligence without feelings, without emotions, without genes, without a body, simply can't be trusted. I don't think I will ever trust anything that's not capable of love, which I believe is the highest expression of power in the universe. 

AI cannot love. It therefore cannot be trusted.

Based on what I know about AI, we're racing to create an intelligence more powerful than human beings and fundamentally unsympathetic to human beings. It feels to me like a recipe for annihilation--not fast, but slow, silent, inexorable eradication.

I'll be encouraging my congregation to take the same posture in their personal lives and in public policy. And no, I won't be having Claude write any prayers or sermons.