We have the mind of Christ, but use the voice of a machine?

By Elizabeth Prata

I heard a really interesting thought on a Facebook short, of all places. It was a clip from an NPR interview with Dave Eggers, author, publisher, and Pulitzer finalist. The show was Wild Cards hosted by Rachel Martin. In it, Eggers said,

“This is the first time in history when a whole generation is being told or tempted to have a machine write for them to express themselves. But I say, you are one of one, unprecedented in in the history human evolution. There’s only one of you. So to give your voice to a machine to say, ‘Speak for me. I’m going to be silent.’ I’m going to tell a machine to express myself or to tell my narrative is such a crime against yourself.”

“It’s so dystopian, so beyond anything I could do in a dystopian novel, and I did a lot, and I never saw this coming. That an entire generation, too many of them, acquiescing to the silencing of their own voice in favor of a bland, unthinking machine to voice their souls.” –end Eggers quote

I think many of us who write or create never saw this coming. And since it’s still so new, we are grappling with the impact, fallout, and future of AI. His words made a lot of sense to me. For us Christians, though, it goes very much deeper than that.

Artificial intelligence technology has evolved faster than most Christians have been able to think about it. ~Samuel James, at Desiring God

Taking ‘evolution’ out of the equation, because that is a made-up untrue theory, and we all do realize we are uniquely made, yes, there is only one of me. Faceless evolution didn’t create me, the God of the universe did! And not only are we made purposely, intentionally, and with love by God, we are created in His image.

This notion should be on our minds every moment. It is a dignity afforded no other creature. It gives us the opportunity to speak His truth of the Gospel, reflect His character. Our voices are for the incredible privilege of sharing His Gospel and truths of the Bible. Why put a cold, metallic, faceless machine in that place of dignity?

Can we consider the possibility that swapping our own unique image-of-God voice for a voice of Artificial Intelligence is not only a crime against ourselves, but that giving away our God-given talents and creative abilities for the ease of a push-button machine may possibly be thought of as a crime against God? Should we be swapping our transformed mind of Christ at the cost of Jesus’ blood and death, for a man-made device? Just because it’s easier?