Building Principles for AI in Ministry
When developing AI systems for ministry use, builders must consider key theological and ethical implications to ensure their systems uphold human dignity and align with biblical values.
Biblical Grounding
Human Dignity
For Christians, all humans are set apart with intrinsic and equal value, moral agency, and creativity. While AI might imitate some human qualities, it cannot replicate them. This human identity and dignity is grounded in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). While AI can assist in various tasks, it lacks the capacity for true relationships (Gen 2:18) or decision-making (Gen 2:19), although it may wrongly stand in for both.
As Christians, we believe humans must prioritize human connection over AI relationships1, ensuring AI serves to enhance human flourishing, uphold dignity, and align with God's purposes for humanity. Stewardship of AI includes recognizing biases, validating accuracy, and deploying technology ethically. AI should not take over or subvert humanity's God-given responsibilities and identity.
AI as Part of Creation2
Artificial intelligence is a product of human creativity and can be celebrated as such. It is also subject to humanity's God-given authority to guide and steward it. While AI is not subject to any one person's or one group's control, neither is it an independent agent separate from human oversight.
As a human creation, AI is designed for a purpose, and therefore is not neutral in any sense. The purposes to which it is put and the methods by which it seeks to achieve those purposes are both inherently biased. These biases will make it good for some purposes. In other cases, its biases risk deforming the users and the outputs, regardless of the purpose.
Honest Scales
Honest weights and measures delight the Lord (e.g., Lev 19:36; Prov 11:1; Ezek 45:10). By contrast, "a [dishonest] scale can cheat an entire city into poverty" and dishonest or biased AI systems can cheat an entire population into various forms of poverty—biblical, financial, judicial, and more. But honest and well-balanced AI systems might support human flourishing.
As Christians, we must create routines to regularly review and re-balance AI systems and ensure they accurately reflect and support the future the Bible envisions for human flourishing—namely love, freedom, and care. This review must account for the experiences of the marginalized, the weak, and God's good creation.
AI Guardrails
Christian builders are negligent if they do not consider the risks posed by AI systems. Deuteronomy 22:8 required, "When you build a new house, you must build a railing around the edge of its flat roof. That way you will not be considered guilty of murder if someone falls from the roof." AI systems are more complex than a rooftop, so their risks will be as well. What does "falling off" look like? Builders must envision these risks and install reasonable guardrails to protect users.
Christian builders, to prevent negligent harm from AI systems they deploy, must install reasonable and adequate guardrails for users.
Systems that Bless
More broadly, the honest scales and guardrails mentioned above are bare minimums. These Old Testament guidelines are encompassed by New Testament teaching. Jesus' command goes further to include love for both neighbor and enemy (Lev 19:18; Matt 5:43-44). Not only that—Jesus' "new command" is to sacrificially "love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34; 15:12). Jesus' New Testament call to sacrificial love supersedes the Old Testament command to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18).
Jesus' own example of cruciform love exemplifies an approach to blessing that Christian builders should aim to embody in their AI systems.
Human Flourishing
AI systems should be designed in ways that support human flourishing and alleviate human suffering. It should "elevate the dignity of human beings and their capacity to flourish as image bearers in the world."3 Christian builders have the opportunity to imagine how AI systems might truly help people flourish—informing human agency, upholding human responsibility, developing cognitively and creatively, advancing human embodiment, promoting emotional and spiritual well-being, supporting relationships and celebration, restoring trust, and benefiting the global majority.4
In development, this means looking beyond the near-term outputs of an AI system to also anticipate medium-term outcomes and imagine longer-term effects. In addition to time horizons, this also means developing with an eye to AI's potential to support humanity flourishing across social, economic, and environmental landscapes. Building AI systems without such broad visions falls short of God's goals for humanity.