AI & the Church Summit
AI & the Church Summit
Highlights from the Seattle event.
This past week, I attended the “AI & the Church Summit” in Seattle. I joined a panel on the final day to talk about some of the themes of the conference.
Paolo Benanti
I was most excited to hear from Paolo Benanti, and his presentation did not disappoint. He began by showing us side-by-side pictures of New York’s 5th Avenue on Easter Sunday, 13 years apart.
The transformation from horses to cars is dramatic. And he asked which one is better?
Some said horses because of the environmental impact of cars. Others said cars because of “horse poo.” Of course, Benanti said it’s the wrong question to start with.
Benanti defined technology as a “form of order designed to shift power” and in many cases maintain it in the hands of some over others. He recounted the story of Robert Moses’ bridges over the Long Island Parkway. In the 1950s, Moses built the overpasses exceptionally low so that only cars could pass under them. He wanted to prevent public transit buses from being able to use the parkway, so that “certain kinds of people” wouldn’t be easily able to access the beaches on Long Island. Those bridges are still enforcing Moses’ racism today, 75 years later.
But Benanti drew a comparison between these bridges and the fact that of the planet’s 8 billion people, only 28 million are coders. This privileged position allows 0.25% of the globe maintain a certain kind of control over those who depend otherwise simply depend on computers. AI, in Benanti’s thinking, continues this hegemony. [That said, AI also allows us to speak “computer-ese” to some degree today—though real coding still demands that we acquire a programming language.]
Noreen Herzfeld
The other person I was excited to hear from was Noreen Herzfeld, who talked from her new book, The Artifice of Intelligence. You’ll remember her from a featured podcast included here last week.
Herzfeld is a computer science professor-turned-theologian, after she began to encounter questions her technical expertise couldn’t answer. Over 25 years ago, she started thinking about the theology of AI—well before many of us were ever thinking about AI, let alone the theological problems it raises.
Herzfeld’s question was “What do we want from AI, and why do we want it?” She drew on the work of Karl Barth to define what “authentic relationships” involve:
Look in the eye
Speak to and listen
Aid the other
Do it gladly
She then systematically compared how AI stands up and falls short with each of these criteria.
That Dragon, Cancer
Lastly, I was delighted to be able to hear from Ryan & Amy Green, who are best known for creating a new category of video games known as “empathy gaming” with their release of the 2016 video game “That Dragon, Cancer.” In the game, players have the chance to care for the Green’s son who has cancer, and to walk with him through the devastating process.
The Green’s demonstrated so much depth, heart, and wisdom about video gaming, but also about the toll that cancer takes on faith. Amy talked about how crucial it is to think so, so carefully about the features and agency that you give to players. Ryan described how they wanted to ensure that the players never felt that they had caused harm to the little boy at the center of the game. The level of thoughtfulness they give to their craft deserves to be imitated by every Christian tech creator.
If you ever have the chance to hear from them, take it. They may attend the Christian Game Developers Conference. I highlighted their work in my Missional Tech Trend report on Video Gaming for FaithTech. And Amy has a TED Talk that you can check out.