Is Redemptive AI Possible?
A longtime friend, who has had great success incorporating artificial intelligence into an already successful business, likened the recent Colson Center Great Lakes Symposium on artificial intelligence to an old man yelling, “Get off my lawn.”
He’s not wrong, at least when it comes to a lot of ways AI gets talked about.
Our speakers (me included!) spent the majority of the time warning against the dangers inherent to this incredible technology. And there are dangers, specifically how easily the technology can be weaponized for deception, exploitation and control, as well as the potential for replacing humans in relationships, work and creativity.
Their warnings should be heard and heeded. Probably the most important advice of the evening was that each should closely evaluate how we are using AI, especially the habits we are forming as we do so.
At the same time, to only say what’s wrong with AI is to only tell part of the story, both of the world and of the complicated relationship that humans have always had with technology.
The Bible offers a story of the world that can be summarized in four chapters: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration. All four are required to properly understand any aspect of human activity, including business, art, medicine or technology.
Technology is possible because of how God made humans and the world. Our sin has corrupted creation and our technologies, which carry the potential for good and evil or both. Our fallenness can also blind us to the ways our technologies shape us, especially how we think about God and other people. Christ’s work is redemptive, not only to individual souls but for all of creation. And so, we look forward to His return, when creation is restored. Our task in the meantime is to join the work of restoration wherever and however we can.
If we talk only about the fallen uses of AI, we miss an opportunity to celebrate where God is using it for His glory. Praxis, a network of Christian entrepreneurs that trains leaders and inspires innovation, describes three ways that any venture or technology can be used. The exploitative way is a “take-what-it-can-get,” zero-sum, “I win, you lose” posture. In contrast, the ethical way does things right, follows the rules, and aims for a fair deal. But there’s a third way, according to Praxis Partner Andy Crouch. The redemptive way is fundamentally other-centered and echoes the pattern of Jesus laying down His life to save the world. Like Him, our work should be driven by an “I sacrifice, we win” mindset.
Because our technologically driven culture is bent toward efficiency and productivity, we rarely hear stories of this third way. So, here are three that could be described as redemptive uses of AI.
The Rare Genomics Institute, founded and led by Dr. Jimmy Lin, uses genomic technology powered by AI-assisted analysis to help patients with rare, undiagnosed diseases finally get answers, often after years of searching. With AI, Rare Genomics helps and heals those whom the market has no incentive to care about.
Every Tribe Every Nation, an alliance of Bible translators, recently reported that because of AI assistance, Bible translation timelines are being reduced by as much as 25 years. New translation efforts are being launched at a pace of every 17 hours. Today, only a few hundred of the world’s heart languages remain untouched by any translation effort, and that number is shrinking fast.
After completing the Colson Fellows Program, Jake Carlson launched The Apologist Project, a conversational AI solution built on a biblical worldview and trained on the world’s best Christian apologetics content. It is empowering ministries in the U.S. and across the world to extend their digital reach to skeptics through evangelism and discipleship.
In addition to these examples, there are many others, including medical institutions and businesses that benefit from the data-crunching AI provides.
Of course, the dangers also remain, not least of which include the corrupted visions of humanity driving those who champion these technologies. Right now, visions of AI run from those who want to help humans, to those who want to heal humans, to those who want to enhance humans, to those who want to replace humans.
To put it mildly, we need discernment if we are to tell the difference between these radically different visions, choosing those uses within the first two visions while rejecting uses within the latter two. Christians who are grounded in the essential truths of a Christian worldview will have much to offer in the days ahead. In practice, that will mean not confusing AI with image bearers and not reducing image bearers to only their “intelligence.”
It has always been true that technologies can be used to deceive and to exploit or to heal, help and proclaim truth. The most important difference is not the technology itself, but who is using it and why. Christians aren’t just called to diagnose brokenness. We are called to find where God is at work and to join Him there.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/BlackJack3D
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
