In Our Image and Likeness

Michael P. Riley

Should you thank Siri?

While the current marketing hype over AI has to recede at some point—can every consumer product need AI?—its widespread adoption makes it unlikely that any of us will be able to avoid interacting with AI-powered computers.

There is no universally accepted definition of artificial intelligence. What I have in view for this essay are chiefly large language models (like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini) and other advanced chat AIs (like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa). We are supposed to interact with these tools, both in our inputs and their responses, in natural language. Regardless of the particular technologies powering these artificial intelligences, interactions with such tools can sometimes feel like an ordinary human conversation.

The AI boom raises a number of ethical questions. On the development side, there are serious concerns that an AI might act in ways that satisfy its programmed parameters yet are contrary to the interests of the humans that programmed it. That is no small risk.

Here, though, my focus is on the user side of AI. As Christians, how should we think about talking to—or, seemingly, talking with—our computers? Do we have any obligations to engage with them respectfully? Is berating Alexa for a useless answer a sin?

I contend that the relevant theological concept for our decisions is image-bearing.