Looking at A.I. With A Protestant Christian’s Eyes

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

So, the Pope has issued an encyclical on A.I.  Here’s a link – I have scanned, but not read thoroughly.  John Ellis’ newsletter this morning contains a link to an NYTimes piece that notes the makers of A.I. are greeting the Pope’s input with, at best, a yawn.  I think that both sides of this forming debate are missing the point to some extent.

It is hard to know exactly where to put my finger into this pie as there are so many things swirling around, so I will arbitrarily start with A.I. builders in Silicon Valley.  I would remind them that we have many prior times in history stood on what we consider a technological hinge point on which everything would change.  Most recently with the development of nuclear weapons and the peaceful use of nuclear power.  Much has been done in recent years to recuperate the reputation of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man that lead the team that made the bomb.  And that is fair, for he was not guilty of the crimes of which he was accused.  But that said why did people come to want his hide so badly.

I would suggest his hide was desired because Oppenheimer’s ego grew completely out of bounds.  He began to act as if he had reached a certain god-like status having unleashed the “fundamental forces of the universe.”  Modern physics theory no longer holds those forces as the most fundamental.  Oppenheimer has, to some extent, been humiliated by the advance of science and he was most definitely humiliated by powerful people that knew his opinion of himself was a bit too grandiose.  The builders of A.I. should be cautious in their dreams and claims.  History has a way of humiliating people that think they are accomplishing more than they actually are.  Even if what they are accomplishing is quite astonishing.

Secondly, has no one in this mess ever read Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein?”  It is a morality story in which a scientist thinks he can create life and how the life he does create goes terribly awry.  The true horror in the story is not the monster, horrible though it is, but how the creation of the monster destroys the life of its human creator.  In many ways it carries the same warning that the Oppenheimer story does.  Man is not nearly so powerful as he thinks he is.  When our reach exceeds our grasp, bad things happen.

Which brings me to the encyclical.  Disclaimer – I am not Roman Catholic.  I lack sufficient education and background to understand the document in its fullest as it makes reference to so much that has come before it with which I am unfamiliar.  But the scan I have done of it makes plain that the document is about preserving human dignity and not allowing machines to replace us. That is a fine message and a deeply Christian one, but it is one that I think misses the fullness of Christian thought.

The builders of A.I. pretend to God’s place in this universe.  They, like Dr. Frankenstein, think they can create new life.  They, as the Apostle Paul put it, “…they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind….”  The encyclical is disappointing to me because as best as my cursory reading has revealed, it does not address this fundamental thought – that A.I.’s builders dreams are simply and wholly beyond man’s capabilities.  Their dreams are dreams reserved only for God.

As the Oppenheimer story tells us, history, if not their creation, will ultimately humble the builders of current A.I.  Perhaps the pope is wise to let God’s providence, expressed as history, provide that humility.

Please do not misunderstand me.  A.I. is expansive and powerful technology and it will change things.  But God has equipped humanity with the skills to cope.  That is why He is God ad we are not.