AI as Christian Heresy

Over the past decade, most of our public debates about the role of technology in human affairs have focused on a set of interrelated technologies: the internet, social media, and the smartphone. The questions and challenges these technologies present are hardly resolved, but with the emergence of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT in late 2022, attention suddenly turned to artificial intelligence and the large language models (LLMs) that underwrite them. These new technologies engender utopian hopes and apocalyptic fears. Our expectations and fears introduce a great deal of noise into the information environment, and they can make it difficult to think clearly and make sound judgments about AI.