Ik ben bezig om een serie van drie artikelen over AI en theologie te schrijven voor het platform Theologie.nl. Het eerste artikel met als titel Kunstmatige intelligentie heeft goede theologie broodnodig
Spirituele en religieuze dimensies van AI is nu te lezen op de website. De andere artikelen verschijnen begin 2024.
Ik ben onlangs geïnterviewd door EVA Magazine met de vraag hoe AI het werk van dominees en pastoraal werkers zal gaan veranderen. Gaat ChatGPT binnenkort de preek schrijven of toch niet? Lees het hele interview op de website van de EVA.
Digital technology is reshaping the way humans communicate with each other and, for the vast majority in the Western world, the smartphone has become the most important tool for that. Modern digital tools have also transformed our sexuality as this is highly correlated with communication. This has led to an increasing digital embodiment of sexuality, which, combined with “Christianity’s ambivalent relationship to the body” (2), has led to a huge discrepancy with the current state of affairs in Christian sexual ethics. Ott’s book is a successful attempt to fill this void and she describes the goal of this book to increase the reader’s digital literacy but also to “invite them to consider their own Christian digital sexual ethic” (12).[1]
After a comprehensive introduction that establishes a robust foundation in digital literacy and sexual ethics, the book delves into five distinct issues related to digital sexuality. Each chapter begins by presenting data on the current usage, scope, and impact of the relevant technologies. This is followed by an examination of Christian perspectives on sexual ethics, enriched by insights from digital theology. Each chapter concludes with a series of discussion questions. The book’s final section includes a Youth Study Guide, offering resources for educating and engaging teenagers and young adults, as well as a selected bibliography featuring recommended readings on each topic.
In the first chapter, the author, who serves as a Professor of Christian Social Ethics at the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, explores the subject of digital pornography through the theological lens of humans being created in the image of God. The author notes that technology has been employed for millennia to depict and communicate sexuality, which in modern times is primarily facilitated through digital means—sexting being a pertinent example. Taking a body-affirmative stance, the author posits that “sexuality is about the whole person” (23). She challenges readers to re-evaluate their own sexual ethics, questioning whether we view others as complete beings made in the image of God, or whether we objectify them. Advocating for a values-based approach to digital pornography, she urges us to scrutinize the underlying values at stake and consider the potential for technology to contribute to human flourishing, inclusivity, and education.
This values-based methodology continues in the subsequent chapter, which focuses on online dating. The author probes how the design and underlying values of dating apps may complicate relationships that are informed by faith. In the third chapter, titled “Love Does Not Delight in Evil,” the darker aspects of digital technology in the context of sexual ethics are exposed through various examples of digital sexual abuse. Beyond ethical considerations, the author also challenges the Christian theology that condones suffering because it is a part of Jesus’ own experience. In the final chapters, the author investigates the frontiers of sexual experience in virtual reality (VR) and with sex robots. She begins from the premise that humans are “embodied, digital spiritual beings” (96), arguing that as digital technology increasingly becomes a part of our embodied experience, a richer understanding of sexuality and underpinning values is warranted.
In conclusion, this book serves as a much-needed resource for delving into the intricate and often under-discussed subject of Christian sexual ethics in our digital era. The author takes a courageous approach, unflinchingly tackling topics that are considered taboo in many religious circles. The text does not just offer cookie-cutter answers but instead provokes thoughtful dialogue and critical thinking. Reading this book necessitates a hermeneutics of faith and an open mind; it will unquestionably challenge you to reassess and perhaps update your own views on sexual ethics. While you don’t have to agree with the author’s positions, the very act of grappling with these complex issues is invaluable. Whether you’re a theologian, a (youth) pastor or religious scholar interested in the intersection of faith and sexuality in the contemporary world, this book comes highly recommended. It encourages you to explore new perspectives that could refine your understanding of key ethical issues in today’s changing world.
Kate Ott, Sex, Tech & Faith – Ethics for a Digital Age, (Grand Rapids MI, Eerdmans, 2022), 207 pp., USD 22.99, paperback (ISBN 978-0802878465).
Note from the author the key take away from the book in X thread below.
[1] Italics in original.
Eind augustus was Jack te gast bij De theologie-podcast van theologie.nl om te praten over de rol van AI in theologie. Het was een prettig gesprek welke hieronder is terug te luisteren.
AI tools
Als AI-theoloog moet je natuurlijk bijblijven en ontkom je er niet aan om allerlei nieuwe AI-tools uit te proberen. De laatste hype in AI-land heet Ideogram en ik heb een 3D AI-theoloog logo laten ontwerpen. Je moet wat geduld hebben en het meerdere malen proberen maar de resultaten mogen er zijn, vind ik zelf 😀
It seems that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm since the launch of ChatGPT early December 2022 and the authors of this volume, which was launched in June 2022, couldn’t have predicted the importance and relevancy of this topic in our society in 2023. The purpose of the book is that it will “facilitate further reflections and dialogue about AI to help us reimagine and pursue what is possible and necessary for a better world” by “engaging with resources from the Christian tradition to critique and participate constructively in the wise design, development, and use of AI” (12-13).
This volume consists of two parts: the first part Foundations contains four chapters that provides a robust primer for understanding and interpreting AI from a technological, philosophical, and theological perspective. The second part Explorations consists of five essays that each cover a specific, in-depth AI-related theme like e.g., the future of work and theological personhood. The authors’ distinctive interdisciplinary method distinguishes this book from most others on AI and theology. They offer a unique perspective by presenting AI as a phenomenon intertwined with theological and cultural aspects. This approach considers AI as a technology and social occurrence that increasingly influences and molds our society and explores its potential spiritual and religious ramifications. If you are new to the world of AI and theology, chapters 2 (An introduction to AI) and 4 (A theological framework for reflection on AI) are great resources to get familiar with these topics. Both chapters are well written, easy to read texts that will give you a framework for better understanding and assessing AI and its theological implications. In the current debate about AI a lot is being written about the expected impact AI will have on jobs and on education. Most publications are either utopian where AI will be able to change the world for better, or they are dystopic in which the focus is on the mass unemployment and havoc AI will create. Michael Paulus, the author of the 8th chapter on the impact of AI on work, provides a helpful third way to discuss the future of work by offering a pragmatic apocalyptic counternarrative. The function of apocalyptic literature, is “to present a narrative that opens up our imagination to a new view of the world” (183) and in the book of Revelation the key concept is about cities that have been transformed and amplified by God from an ambiguous human project to His dwelling place, where “complex human artifacts—including artificial autonomous agents—can be transformed into a constitutive part of God’s new creation” (184-185). In this apocalyptic view work is an ontological, meaningful part of the new creation and provides an interesting perspective on the telos of technology and work. The final chapter Sin and Grace Bruce Baker takes AI ethics into a broader discourse around the theological notion of sin. The ethical use of AI is a widely discussed topic and e.g., provides the foundation for the forthcoming EU AI Act. Baker rightly points out that these discussions easily end up in “a discussion of utilitarian value propositions and perhaps the need for transparency or privacy protections” (193), however, AI and AI ethics will not solve problems that are rooted in sin. The author focuses mainly on the consequences of unintentional and institutional sin and points out that developers and practitioners who work with AI have a special responsibility to pay attention for this. He ends this chapter by describing how AI can also act as a form of grace. In the epilogue of the book the reader can find a litany, which is a “thoughtfully organized prayer for use in public worship by the church, or as a personal devotional practice by individuals” (219), that will the reader reflect on AI, faith and what this means for the future.
I would highly recommend this volume to anyone who wants to learn more about AI and its societal and spiritual impact. It is very well written, very relevant and very helpful in understanding and interpreting the role AI plays in our culture and theology. I would encourage the editors to really consider publishing a second edition of the book in which they also add a chapter (or a few) on generative AI, which is about tools like ChatGTP, Google Bard and DALLE-2 that can create text, pictures, audio and video, and the impact this will have on faith and the future.
Michael J. Paulus Jr. & Michael D. Langford (eds.), AI, Faith, and the Future – An Interdisciplinary Approach, (Eugene OR, Pickwick Publications, 2022), 244 pp., USD 34.00, paperback (ISBN 978-1666703467).
Op maandag 26 juni 2023 is Jack geïnterviewd voor het programma Uitgelicht van Family7. De aanleiding van het interview waren enkele artikelen die verschenen waren (o.a. in het RD en Trouw) in hoeverre het wenselijk is om als predikant ChatGPT te gebruiken voor het maken van preken. De preek is hieronder terug te kijken op Youtube.
Ik werd maandag 8 mei 2023 geïnterviewd door Laurens van de Kraats in het programma De Dag van Vandaag op Groot Nieuws Radio. Het interview kun je hieronder terugluisteren. Wil je de hele uitzending terughoren dan kan dat via deze link.
Ik heb een essay geschreven met als titel Verandert het beeld Gods in een machine? over hoe het christelijke mensbeeld zich verhoudt tot alle ontwikkelingen die er plaatsvinden op het gebied van AI. Dit essay is gepubliceerd in het mei-nummer van opinieblad De Nieuwe Koers.
AI Theoloog in de media
In februari, maart en april ben ik diverse malen geïnterviewd over AI en theologie. De links naar deze artikelen vind je hieronder.
Interview in het Nederlands Dagblad van 11 april 2023 met Johan Vollmuller, de ontwikkelaar van BijbelGPT, met daarin een quote van mij als AI theoloog.
Interview AI in CGMV Magazine maart 2023
In januari 2023 ben ik geïnterviewd door Ineke Evink, hoofdredacteur van CGMV Magazine over de kansen en gevaren van AI. Je kan een PDF van het artikel hieronder downloaden.
Interview met EO Visie 10 2023
Het artikel is hier online te lezen
Interview op Cvandaag – 21 februari 2023
Het interview met Geerten van Breugel van Cvandaag is hier terug te lezen (zit achter betaalmuur). Wil je een PDF van het artikel lezen, stuur mij dan een berichtje en ik stuur het naar je toe.