I was doing my usual thing at the North Hunterdon Food Pantry distribution, making myself useful and talking with the clients. It was a few nights after the big interview of Jacob Coxon, the Anthropic and OpenAI whistleblower, on The Daily Show. Multiple clients were genuinely worried and angry about the dangers of AI, some of them felt like Silicon Valley had tricked America into supporting Artificial Intelligence and Data Centers. One client asked me, “Pastor, what does the church say about Artificial Intelligence?”
At the time all I could do was
say a few vague things from the ELCA’s
Corporate Social Responsibility Issue Paper on AI and assure them that I
proposed and passed a
resolution at the last Synod Assembly that requested a Social Message on AI
from Churchwide.
Well, fast forward a week and that’s changed, there is more we Lutherans
can say! The ELCA just released a Theological
Foundations Paper on AI. Basically, it is laying out a framework from which
the ELCA will construct a Social Message about Artificial Intelligence. Social
Messages are documents that use previous Social Statements (which are broader
teachings of the ELCA) to address a particular concern.
The Foundations Paper takes as its starting point the Golden Rule, “Do to
others as you would have them do to you.”[1]
It compares AI to, “a severe, rapidly moving spring thunderstorm.” AI is both
beneficial and dangerous and it is coming at us incredibly fast! AI is already
shaping the needs of our neighbors, shaping how we live out the Golden Rule.
And just as AI is ambiguous, both useful and damaging, so too how humans
handle it. We humans are simul iustus et peccator, at the same time justified
and sinner, and as such we contain multitudes. The paper describes us as
“innovative stewards” for whom our ability to create tools and technologies is
both a creative gift and a moral burden. The challenge of being a tool maker is
that our technology and our ethics ought to align, or at least somewhat synch
up.
As we consider the possibilities of AI we must acknowledge the reality of
Sin. Within our souls we can become prideful and wrongly put our trust in human
knowledge, ability, or will, or we can become complacent, resigning ourselves
to worst case dystopian uses of AI. Within the algorithms that shape AI, there
is a sinful dangers as well. Two of these dangers are biases (for example some
AI systems used by hospitals to sort through resumes have a bias against male
nurses and automatically reject them), and everyday theft of intellectual
property that gets re-branded with euphemisms like “training.”
Because the field of AI is changing so quickly, the ELCA is using the
theological framework of “bound conscience” as a sort of “wait and see”
mechanism. That is, both AI optimists and AI pessimists ought to understand the
other’s position as coming from a genuine and sincerely held place. That said,
AI, like all technology, should, “Respect and promote the community of life
with justice and wisdom.” Which is a mouthful. Let’s break that down:
Respect—The
excuse “you gotta break some eggs to make an omelet” doesn’t cut it. Not
breaking things is a precursor to creating things.
Promote—It
isn’t enough for AI proponents to demonstrate that their products don’t violate
people’s rights, instead the products must expand and enhance them. The church
is called to hold AI creators accountable if they do not.
Justice—Does
the technology assist people in meeting their basic needs? Does it take into
consideration the wellbeing of future generations? Are the concerns of those
most impacted by the harms of the new technology heeded? Will there be humans
who are held accountable and corporations liable, if AI does something horrible?
Wisdom—AI
Specialists need to regularly be part of the conversation and we, the general
population, ought to educate ourselves about AI. We can’t assume best outcomes,
and as with any new technology, caution is decidedly warranted. When weighing
uncertain risks and rewards, airing on the side of restriction is wise.
The document concludes: “The
ELCA endeavors to limit harms from the use and development of AI even while
seeking its potential goods that strive to respect and promote the flourishing
of the community of life and its inhabitants.”
The next time someone asks you or me about the intersection of faith and
AI, we aren’t going to be as knowledgeable as Jacob Coxon, or as witty as Jon
Stewart who interviewed him, but we at least have a framework to start the
conversation.
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