Tome. That’s the word that comes to mind when I see The Promise and Peril of AI and IA: New Technology Meets Religion, Theology, and Ethics, edited by Ted Peters, on my desk. It’s an appropriate description. Promise and Peril is the second edition— a necessary update and great expansion—of the book AI and IA: Utopia or Extinction, edited by Ted Peters in 2018. The volume, which clocks in at 27 chapters plus two editorials and a forward, is easily twice as thick as most, and three times as thick as some, of the books on the same topic strewn about my office. In addition to its physical heft, the volume contains significant intellectual weight as indicated by a cursory glance at the contributors and table of contents.
In many ways, Promise and Peril, a collection of essays by theologians, scientists, clergy, lawyers, and students, functions as a primer or “course in a book” for those interested in the ways that new technology—and ideologies motivated by new technology—intersect with the study of religion, theological belief, and relevant practices. In promising to be “an exercise in public theology” (xxi) the volume has much to contribute. Nevertheless, it also suffers from the expected pitfalls common to primers and can at times feel a bit unbalanced. While some entries are quite strong, others feel routine and required. Such an assessment raises the question of audience. The most likely beneficiary is the scholar or theologian who wants to dip a toe in the waters of AI ethics and religion. Seasoned scholars of religion and new technology will likely find useful synopses of debates, perspectives, and theories.
Additionally, an index and comprehensive bibliography would have made the book more useful as a reference resource. This particular shortcoming may be due to the hybrid format of the volume as an edited volume (10) in Agathon: A Journal of Ethics and Value in the Modern World. Likewise the organization comes across as abstract. Peters deploys three loose thematic sections: AI, IA, and Frankenfear; AI and IA in Culture, Religion, and Ethics; and Is there really an “I” in “AI” or “IA”? These sections do not indicate their respective content. Moreover, it remains unclear why certain essays appear where they do. In what follows, I turn to four examples that demonstrate the breadth and coherence of the entries in the volume.
In chapter 1, “The Enchantment of AI,” Noreen Herzfeld addresses the concept of utopia as promised by positivist technologists through the promulgation of AI. The very idea of AI, she writes, “enchants us, obscuring its true risks and pushing many toward a kind of magical thinking…” (5). The danger of such enchantment—exemplified by the personification of AI— distract humans from the fulsome disruption of the “face-to-face” relationships upon which entire economic, political, and data systems depend. In short, the enchantment allows humans to imagine a machine without humans, like Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Charles” who runs completely independently of human intervention or moral guidance in the novel Service Model. This short essay is an excellent summary of Herzfeld’s work and indicative of her Christian theological approach that considers the theological value of relationship as a category for AI ethics.
Chapter 3, “Should God have Given Humans Technology? The Stories We Tell Ourselves,” by Brian Patrick Green offers a thought-provoking assessment of AI and new technology from a Christian ethical perspective. Rather than succumb to the narrative that Herzfeld warns against, Green works to understand how technology relates to the divine plan. Arguing first that technology is a God-given aid to humanity, Green argues that the God of the Christian Bible is best thought of as an “artificer” (49). In other words, God is a tech-worker. Technology, when viewed in this light, transcends a good/evil binary and users must confront the ways that technology is used and employed. As any other technology, Green argues, “AI demands guidance with respect to good and evil…God laid potencies into the universe for us to find and use for the sake of good, but always, at the same time, with the risk of evil” (69). Green’s ethical framing offers much to people of faith wondering how to respond to technological developments, including AI.
Ali-Reza Bhojani’s “Between Fear and Hope: AI Ethics in Islamic Thought” (chapter 14), offers a glimpse into the richness beyond Western Christian ethical traditions. Bhojani’s succinct and useful introduction to Islamic ethical thought as applied to AI immediately motivated me to return to Green’s essay and re-read it in light of Bhojani’s method. Bhojani’s suggestion that a “Knowing, Wise, God is typically held by Muslims to have a view on everything” and his focus on “right ethical action” (255) seems quite compatible with Green’s Catholic ethic that originates technology in the Divine plan. I will almost certainly recommend that seminarians read both essays before they engage in constructive ethical thinking around AI.
Sunday Akande and Oluwatobi Ife-Adediran argue that virtuous AI is possible in their contribution “AI in African Liberation.” Nevertheless, such a technology would only be virtuous if informed by “virtuous values and virtuous actors” (282). In the context of African Liberation, AI developers must be in contact with African communities, strive toward decolonialization, and promote African culture, knowledge, and values. In their words, “AI will be regarded as virtuous if it contributes to African liberation and decolonization. Despite the obvious challenges, Akande and Ife-Adediran argue that AI for liberation must be freed from racial bias, neocolonial manipulation and control, as well as the perpetuation of neocolonial cultural hegemony that undermines the cultural traditions, values, and identity of former colonies in the African continent” (284).
One of the strengths of this book comes through the variety of voices and perspectives beyond the hegemonic Western Christian ones. Taken together, these essays expanded my ethical horizons for AI as both a trained biblical scholar and librarian in a Christian seminary.
Space does not permit a full account of the many essays in this volume so we must suffice with an acknowledgement that this volume is a helpful starting point for anyone interested in AI, religion, and ethics. This short review has only scratched the surface of the variety of conversations that happen in and across the pages of this volume. The strengths of the volume are found in the contributions of scholars who think deeply from their own theological commitments and religious expertise. The volume’s weaknesses are not unique, but are typical of large, edited volumes. Despite these shortcomings, I, for one, will be drawing deeply from this large and diverse selection of essays for my own thinking and teaching.
Views and opinions expressed by authors and editors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of AI and Faith or any of its leadership.
