This is first part of a post I wrote for AI and Faith…
Developing a theology of artificial intelligence (AI) is challenging, both because AI itself is moving so quickly and because bringing the ancient world of the scriptures into conversation with our own time requires steady wisdom and fresh insight from the Holy Spirit. Proof texting and taking passages out of context will not offer the church the depth and sources it needs, and yet we must ground our theology in the scriptures.
Below are several individual passages I have found myself returning to when I teach or write on faith and technology, and I thought it might be helpful to put them together and refocus them on current questions about AI. There are certainly many more, especially in the opening chapters of scripture, but I have found these nine to be deep wells of insight where the horizons of the text and today meet quite helpfully. For each passage, I offer two paragraphs, one explaining a short summary of interpretation and a second with some practical implications for AI.
1. The Image of God (Gen 1:26-27)
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Gen 1:27-28
The imago Dei is much discussed, but what exactly is it? Since Augustine’s time, theologians have tended to connect the image with the ability of the human mind (and/or soul) to reason. More recently, the concept of the image of God has been expanded, and it is often described in three categories: substantive (human nature and ability, often reason), functional (humans as representative rulers and stewards of creation), and relational (humans in a unique relationship with God and each other). A simplified alteration of this is capacity, calling, and community.
Interestingly, our own creations, especially AI, challenge all three categories. Even before today’s AI, computers were often able to handle reasoning tasks much better than humans, from basic math to winning at chess (substantive). Today’s AI models are also able to do complex tasks, which means that theoretically, they could manage the Garden more efficiently than humans ever have (functional). Humans are also forming relationships with chatbots and robots, again challenging and an aspect of the image (relational). Our goal, then, should be to encourage people to fully embrace the image, not accidentally ceding it to our creations.
2. God’s Likeness vs. Godlike-ness (Gen 3:4-5)
“Y’all will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when y’all eat from it y’all’s eyes will be opened, and y’all will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Gen 3:4-5
In the story of humanity’s fall, the serpent tempts Eve with a promise that should seem rather hollow. Why would creatures made in the “image and likeness of God” want to become “like God”? The offer is familiar enough to sound almost right, making its distortion into something sinister, subtle, and deceptive. We cannot fault the first couple for thinking this sounded at once like something God would want and yet also that God was holding them back.
Today our desires are warped, humans seem to perpetually desire to move beyond being in God’s likeness and to find something that will give us God-like levels of knowledge and power. In the age of AI, this desire has grown into an aspiration to completely transcend our human limitations, not merely restoring what we’ve lost or accelerating our work, but shifting into the transhumanist desire to claim agency over human nature. As we evaluate tools and their usage, we must keep this temptation before us.
Continue reading 9 Bible Verses on Artificial Intelligence at AI and Faith…