Made in Our Image: God, artificial intelligence and you
Made in Our Image: God, artificial intelligence and you
Artificial intelligence is coming. And this tech revolution, perhaps more than any such revolution that’s gone before, will change the world. No life will be left untouched.
How do Christians navigate their way through these momentous changes? What does Christianity have to say about this brave new world? What will living for Jesus look like in a world where humans, made in God’s image, coexist with intelligent machines made in our image?
Author, pastor and self-confessed ‘tech realist’ Stephen Driscoll sets out to answer those questions with a deep dive into the intersection of faith and technology. Avoiding the extremes of both the tech worshippers and the ‘doomers’, Driscoll offers accessible and illuminating insights into the nature of AI, along with practical tips on how Christians might use this technology for good. Most of all, he shows how the deepest structures of biblical thought will equip Christians to live with AI.
This book is a must-read for tech-savvy optimists and sceptics alike.
As you would expect from Matthias, this is a easily readable book that applies a gospel framework to underpin our thinking about this exponential technology that is transforming every dimension of our lives.
Driscoll writes from a strategic and tactical perspective, charting the landscape of AI as it stood at the time of publication, and rightly notes that the book will likely be out of date within a few months as the tool that is AI continues to get more and more intelligent.
This is reflected in all the desktop research I have been doing in my day job.
The theology is sound and robust, going back to fundamental philosophical questions like "what is a human"?
From there it builds out a gospel response from creation through fall into redemption and eschatology to chart a course where we can transcend the technology and begin to get a handle on how Human Intelligence (what I call HQ) can engage and redeem the tool.
Think of it like the story of the golden calf, where a tool was used to make an idol to worship.
As people rush to AI as a potential saviour of mankind, Made in Our Image provides us with a kingdom lens through which to filter the noise and discern what signals to listen to.
A good place to start if you want to begin your journey to alignging AQ with HQ so the tool of AI will serve the work you need to do.
