Interview With Kate Lucky (Part 2)
Chatbots can be problematic, but can they also be useful? If artificial intelligence can do everything we can do, what makes humans unique? Back to think through tough questions like these is Kate Lucky from Christianity Today. She shares insight from her recent feature piece, “AI Will Shape Your Soul,” a deep-dive into what theologians and tech experts are saying about AI chatbots. Don’t miss part two of this interview, the final episode of our #KnowAboutHealthyTechHabits series! Listen to part one here.
Embodiment
Kate believes that everyone innately recognizes the importance of embodiment. “We feel that there’s something important to our bodies, to our humanity,” she told Know Why. Kate says this points back to the truth of the Christian tradition, which teaches that God took on a human body in the person of Jesus Christ. “It’s a really exciting place for a lot of these theologians, who are finding that the tech world is asking a lot of these questions about embodiment, for example,” she said.
Another question many are wrestling with considering the rapid advancements of AI: what does it mean to be human? If artificial intelligence can do things like converse and create art, what makes humans unique?
“We are more than any capability that we might have, any gift, any function that we can perform.”
Kate Lucky
Kate also points to Christian faith as providing peace in a time when many people worry about these questions. In short, our humanity doesn’t depend on our performance. “We are more than any capability that we might have, any gift, any function that we can perform,” Kate told Know Why. “We’re made in the image in the God just because we’re made in the image of God, and that’s that.”
Perks of New Technology
While we should think carefully about how our interactions with chatbots affect our habits and even our mental health, there could be helpful perks to the new technology. It’s not something to completely reject or accept without critical thinking, Kate says. “AI, for Christians, is always a starting point … it’s always just one piece of the puzzle.”
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