About Faith, Technology, and the Ethics of AI
| Authors | Smith, Joshua |
|---|---|
| Date | 2024 |
| Publisher | Edward Elgar Publishing |
| Vol / Pages | pp. 37-48 |
| ISBN | 978-1-80392-672-8 |
| URL | https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781803926728/book-part-9781803926728-8.xml |
| Language | eng |
Type: Book Section
Abstract
In this chapter, I provide a rationale for why communities of faith are integral to any discussion of the ethical use of AI. The irony here is that current Christian philosophies of technology, via theism, led to many scientific discoveries and contributed to an over-realized vision of technology. This is why the materialist turn towards Cartesian foundationalism and its corollary in the theology of technology is critical for AI ethics. We find our current condition of moral blindness and trusting in the code to be structurally similar to the way that society once trusted divine providence and the hand of God. The beauty in and the hope for humanity in the present debate is that AI serves as a mirror in which we can catch a glimpse of a critical challenge to these anthropologic and metaphysics assumptions.