How can Christians use AI wisely?

Moral and Social Issues Council (MASIC) member Captain Mark Scoulding (Stornoway) talks about artificial intelligence.

It’s been just over a year since MASIC introduced the AI Guardrails. How have things changed since? 

AI has advanced in that time. I think the key thing now is prioritisation: when is it helpful to use it? Taking into account the environmental impact of AI, what is a good use of resources? Helping someone with a blank page to give them a robust framework to build on can be a good use of AI. Generating a picture of kittens playing snooker is perhaps not. 

MASIC hosted a panel discussion about AI at Together 26 and there were Salvationists on it with a breadth of experience with AI, including its potential benefits to help with speech therapy and translation. Whatever sphere we are in, we need to remember that the AI Guardrails are there to help us. 

How has AI’s place in society evolved? 

There are two prevalent ideas in society at the minute. One, that AI is irresistible. It’s not. We do not have to engage if we choose not to. Two, that it’s a universal good, which happens with any new technology. It’s the Wild West for a while, and then things settle down. AI is an incredible piece of technology. We have to consider: where does it add value? Where do we use it to do the most good? 

People mostly encounter AI in terms of generative AI, typically as a chatbot. How does that shape how we see and use AI? 

Generative AI – including the large language models and chatbots we are confronted with most of the time – is not the totality of AI. There are many other forms, and an awareness of that is important. 

An AI chatbot tends to tell you what you want to hear. It also doesn’t really exist. It gives you the impression of a person. When it says ‘I understand’, it doesn’t. It’s like a puppet. But we need to remain focused on people. There’s still a role, perhaps more of a role, for face-to-face communications and relationships. Things can quickly become about what you can produce or the email you can send, rather than relationships. 

The AI Guardrails don’t explicitly mention human creativity, but that has value, doesn’t it? 

The AI Guardrails mention accrediting authorship, in line with our territory’s values of integrity and mutual accountability. But what’s the first thing we learn about God? In the beginning, God created. Our creativity is a mark of us being made in his divine image. There are apps now where you can put in a prompt to generate a song in seconds. I tried putting in a psalm, to see what it could do. If you were musically inclined, you could use that as an initial idea to build off. Is that using your God-given creativity? I don’t know. If I use an auto-rewrite button on an email, it will improve the grammar. Does everything I produce start to sound the same? Is it still my voice? 

How do we balance AI helping us do something we can’t do with someone else having the opportunity to use their talents? 

I think in the Church we need to be mindful of the skills our people have and try to make use of them, even if AI is very convenient. But that’s easier said than done. If we have a small number of people trying to do lots of things, they will inevitably not have the skills to do it all. Is AI’s ability to do some of those things helpful? Does it mask a reality that we need to work together more? These are hard questions to consider. 

AI opens up lots of opportunities. Can God work through AI? 

Theologically, we do need to consider whether we believe God can use these technologies. Personally, I believe God can use anything and everything. However, we have to be careful when we look to technology as the only answer, or place our faith in AI. Although AI can read a document in seconds, it’s no substitute for God. 

What are the social and justice impacts to consider? 

I don’t see much public discourse about the power big tech companies have. I think regulation is important. What changes would need to be made to the national grid if there are lots of data centres in the UK? How will AI change the economy? The Catholic Church, with the Pope’s statement on AI, is one of the only faith-based groups bringing these questions into major news headlines. 

AI fundamentally requires land, minerals and water. If we reached a point where people didn’t have water in their taps, because a local data centre had taken most of it, that would become an issue quickly. But until it affects them, most people likely won’t think about it. We’re a worldwide Army with a bias towards the poor and marginalised. What’s the impact on developing nations? Will they have access to the benefits of AI? It’s not just about us in this territory. 

It’s challenging to raise your head above the day-to-day to think about what’s going to happen. I think the Church has a role in doing that.