Four Questions Parents Should Ask about Any AI Tool
A framework for thinking biblically about AI use for your children.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay. The proverbial Pandora’s box has been opened. Putting your head in the sand and pretending like it doesn’t exist isn’t a strategic. Instead, you need a framework for helping you to help you know if you are using AI tools honestly, ethically, and biblically.
This framework can also be used to teach your child the best way to think regarding the use of AI tools.
Here are four questions to ask yourself about any AI tool:
Does this tool help me to love God and others better?
Am I being honest?
Is this shaping me to be more like Jesus?
Am I giving this tool authority it does not deserve?
Does this tool help me to love God and others better?
What are you doing with the AI tool? Are you using it to research a topic? Are you preparing a presentation and asking it to help organize your work or help you design effective presentation slides? Are you using it to help you learn something new? These are all legitimate uses of AI for Christians.
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)
Your uses of AI should respect God and respect others. You should never use AI as a replacement for what God has created you to be. God gave you a brain for you to use it. Learning is meant to be hard. Easy learning always leads to nothing learned. Just think of the phrase, “easy come… easy go…” Learning that is effortless is also something you will quickly forget.
If your AI tool use is compromising your time in God’s Word, or your time thinking deeply about a subject, I would humbly suggest to you that you should stop using AI that way.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Am I Being Honest with it?
Am I presenting AI generated work as my own? I am putting in minimal effort and passing off the lazy work as if I came up with it? AI is great at generating ideas. It can also generate dozens of pages of well formatted text. It may even read well and be useful but it isn’t coming from you. If you haven’t work to make it your own, passing it off as your own is dishonest and unethical.
A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, if my parent, employer, teacher, friend, grand-parent saw how I use AI when I’m alone in the dark, would they be proud of me or ashamed of me?
If I am misrepresenting my actions to others, that is bearing false witness.
The wicked is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, But the righteous will come through trouble. A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth,
And the recompense of a man’s hands will be rendered to him. (Proverbs 12:13-14)
If I have righteous intentions and if I use AI in a righteous manner, I will not fear being discovered nor will I need to waste my time covering things up.
Is this Shaping me to be more like Jesus?
Everything we see, hear, watch is shaping us in one way or another. By beholding we become changed. Don’t be deceived by the world. When you consume worldly media, it disciples you in the school of Satan. Not only that, how others in the world use AI can inadvertently influence us towards habits that are unwholesome and evil.
Movies and television have been presenting sex outside of marriage as normal and natural. Cohabitating is generally presented as being smart and wise prior to committing to someone for life through marriage. Being happy is the highest virtue according to most sitcoms and movies today. All of this goes contrary to God’s Word.
Is your AI tool use making you more anxious? Are you finding yourself becoming disconnected from real relationships? Do you have less tolerance for the differing views of others? Do you prefer spending time with AI than you do real humans?
Loneliness is real and it hurts. Be careful though, that in your pursuit of medicating your loneliness that you don’t find yourself doing something you’ll regret long-term.
If your use of AI is pleasing to Christ, you’ll find yourself at peace and finding joy even in the midst of trials and difficulties. If it isn’t pleasing to Jesus, you can easily find yourself unsettled, unhappy, anxious, and angry.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Life isn’t meant to be easy all the time. Learning is supposed to be hard. Friendships are not always simple. Sometimes friends disappoint us or make us angry. These trials are not a fault of life, they are a feature. God is in the business of making you holy. Holiness is about being unique, different, set apart. Don’t short-circuit the process by always choosing the easy road and disconnect from humans all-together. Instead, learn from your trials and from your pain.
Am I giving this tool authority it does not deserve?
Where do you go when you have questions about God? Where do you get advice about your relationships? Challenges at school or work? When you are confused about how your walk with God and want help and direction?
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalms 119:105)
AI is not a suitable substitute for the advice of a parent, a counsellor, a pastor. For one thing, AI has no soul, it has no spiritual insight. It is never connected to the Holy Spirit. It is devoid of the divine spark. It has not been created in the image of God. Instead, it is the product of human beings. The product of creatures rather than the Creator.
It is important to take time every day in God’s Word. Do the hard work of memorizing scripture. Spend time thinking about it, talking about it, and discussing it with like-minded people.
What Gets Talked About Sticks
Repetition is important. What gets talked about over and over again is what will be remembered. That’s the point of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 where Moses is telling the Israelites to talk about God’s law to their children at every opportunity.
Don’t leave the discipling of your child to the world. If you do, I promise you that you’ll regret it. Instead, take time to talk to your child about important matters. AI is one of those newly important matters. If you aren’t intentional about talking about AI, the world’s idea of tool use will become the standard.
Children don’t automatically make good decisions. Your child will make their decisions based on your example, based on what they watch, listen to and read. There is no shortage of junk content today. Better to be proactive and guide your child towards what is good, right, and excellent.
Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians think and act biblically about Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.