Artificial intelligence has become ubiquitous in modern society, but, despite its broad presence, its effects — whether good or bad — remain a mystery.
Nashville-based Pastor Russ Ramsey, an amateur art historian and author, recently appeared on CBN’s “Faith vs. Culture,” where he talked about concerns he has over the prevalence of AI, especially as it pertains to artistic expression.
“I’ve avoided AI in every way, shape, or form,” Ramsey said. “Because I’m a writer, I don’t ever want to not be the one who’s writing the words that I use, even if they’re not as precise or tight as an AI generator might make a paragraph.”
The crux of Ramsey’s concern with AI is simple yet profound: it doesn’t have a soul.
Ramsey’s argument is rich in biblical truth. While Scripture isn’t perfectly clear about the parameters of the soul, the Bible’s writers, each of whom were inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17), are unambiguous in their acknowledgment that — as beings made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) — humans are firstly souls and secondarily bodies.
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In Acts 2:41, for example, the Apostle Luke referred to human beings who received salvation as “souls.”
“Part of what makes so much of the art that we go visit in museums so powerful is it’s made from someone with a soul and somebody who has experienced suffering,” Ramsey explained. “AI doesn’t know what suffering is and AI doesn’t have a soul.”
“So technically — and even creatively — we can see things we never would have imagined seeing before, but it’s not coming from someone who’s wept,” he continued. “It’s not coming from someone who’s buried a loved one. It’s not coming from somebody who’s been caught in sin and had to repent. And, in that sense, my concern is that, culturally, we’re moving to a place where we’re trying to normalize avoiding those parts of the human experience that really are integral to spiritual growth.”
While Ramsey certainly addresses the issue of AI from a Christian perspective, it’s a topic that has, in recent years, garnered a great deal of consternation.
Last year, Hollywood actors went on strike over a host of matters, including the use of artificial intelligence in celebrities’ performances. Studio executives and actors were battling over whether performers’ images could be scanned, paid for a day of acting, and their likenesses used by film and television studios in perpetuity, according to Wired.
Needless to say, the conversation about AI and its role in society is not going away. So it’s important to have conversations about a biblically moral approach to its use and value.
You can watch our full, wide-ranging conversation with Ramsey in the “Faith vs. Culture” episode above.
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