Artificial Intelligence is transforming modern warfare, as it’s transforming many other spheres of life. For example, in its war with Iran the USA is using AI to identify targets. It can process vast amounts of data quickly – much better than humans; but, like them, it can make mistakes.
War is horrific, and every death is a tragedy. But military authorities are concerned with legal and ethical issues, such as oversight, accountability, and control. Technically, there is always a human in the loop of strategic military decision-making. But who do you blame if AI causes the ‘wrong people’ to be killed?
AI mimics human intelligence, but with the technical capacity of super-computers. Our intelligence was part of God’s design, because we were made in His image (Genesis 1:26). We have the ability to make choices, and we also have moral awareness. There is no doubt about our personal accountability: God makes it quite clear that we are responsible for our own decisions and actions (Deuteronomy 24:16, Ezekiel 18:20-24; 26-27, Romans 2:6-8). Moreover, He is in control of our eternal destiny. He is fair and just, so if that destiny is eternal death, then we only have ourselves to blame.
The ‘blame game’ started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit – Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, but each guilty party was punished for their own part in the sorry events (Genesis 3:14-19). We cannot blame anyone or anything else for our decisions in life.
Consequently, God asks us to use our intelligence to seek, find and obey Him:
‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight’ (Proverbs 9:10).
Believe it or not, this will necessarily engage us in a form of long-term warfare. This is a spiritual battle against ‘arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God’ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). A personal war battling against human standards and desires, wearing the spiritual ‘armour of God’ (Ephesians 6:10-18). The apostle Paul describes it this way:
But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Timothy 6:11-12).
There are huge ethical and legal questions about AI in warfare. But we all have critically important personal moral and spiritual decisions to make. These decisions are a matter of life and death. Our concern should be how we use our own intelligence to conduct the same spiritual war that was waged by the apostles. It may be unclear who is responsible for mistakes in the Iran war, but we can be sure that we are all personally responsible for how we perform in ‘the good fight of the faith’.
Anna Hart
Read more on this subject: https://gladtidingsmagazine.org/is-ai-going-too-far/ https://gladtidingsmagazine.org/is-artificial-intelligence-unstoppable/