AI and the Creation Mandate

Can we use AI to fulfil the call for humans to be custodians and stewards of creation?

How can artificial intelligence help us fulfil the creation mandate of Genesis 1:28-30? Is AI a technological tool or a dark temptation? There are so many possibilities, for good and ill, that lie before us as we walk into a new technological revolution.

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I am someone who likes to tinker around with AI tools and platforms.

I do find it useful for things like summarizing documents, generating images, drafting outlines, turning lectures into slide decks, analysing data, and creating social media content.

I haven’t found that one program who/that is my “Jarvis,” my personal digital assistant, like Tony Starke has in Iron Man. But the day is drawing nigh!

So can AI help us fulfil the creation mandate for humans to subdue, rule, curate, and shepherd the earth?

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

I recently read a fascinating post on X by Ivan Zhao on On Universe, Life, and AI, which is very much a secularized version of using AI as part of a creation mandate.

He writes:

Each life and human is confined within their own reach and age. But life has this magic to summon more life, and discover tricks and trades among the alliance of lives — to arrange the energy of the universe according to their value. … Together, those human-created tools and tricks are like non-meatball forms of life with varying degrees of vitality. They join the alliance with the rest of meatball life to spread life's value in this cold universe.

This “alliance of life” then uses tricks like diversity of species, competition and evolution, books and cities, the industrial revolution, and the scientific method, to help life flourish against the backdrop of a cold and indifferent universe.

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Consider this: Jesus is Lord, Lord of atoms and algorithms, over demons and data, over all the tech in Quebec!

For the Christian, AI need not be an alien intrusion into a sacred world. Perhaps instead, it is a tool for human flourishing and a partial fulfilment of the mandate for humans to take charge of creation. AI may prove to be a means by which we, as the image-bearers of the risen King, exercise our foundational vocation: to multiply, subdue the earth, and facilitate a flourishing that mirrors the goodness of our Creator.

AI serves as a powerful tool for uncovering the deep codes of creation. When systems like DeepMind’s AlphaFold map the 3D structures of proteins, they are not merely performing a computational feat; rather, they are helping humanity “subdue” the microbial world to combat the physical brokenness introduced at the Fall. By subduing disease through AI-driven medical breakthroughs, we act as God’s vice-regents, bringing life into the chaos of disease and death.

From an ecological perspective, AI offers us unprecedented capabilities for Creation Care. We see this in the deployment of AI-powered acoustic sensors that track endangered species or machine learning algorithms that model complex climate patterns to protect vulnerable populations. This is not secular environmentalism driven by belief in an imminent climate apocalypse. No, it is curation of creation, stewardship of what has been entrusted to us. AI is a tool, like a plough, a Bunsen burner, a train, a microphone, or a mobile phone. AI is an advanced tool that can be used to ensure that the natural world, the theater of God’s glory, is preserved and protected under the watchful eye of its human carers.

That is not to say that AI is not potentially problematic. As with any tool, you can use AI for good or ill. Think of a spade. You can use a spade to dig crops or hit someone over the head with it. But it’s just a spade.

So we do need guardrails to make sure that AI is not used for anti-human and anti-creation activities (like autonomous weapons and mass surveillance!). We must combat algorithmic bias with the same fervor that we combat any other form of injustice, refuse to play God with AI, or let AI become God-like in its power, thus ensuring that our technology reflects the plan, purposes, and providence of God.

If the risen Jesus has truly been vindicated and seated as Lord of all, then even algorithms, silicon, computer chips, and chatbots can serve his purposes.

What do you think? Is AI something you find fascinating (like me), confusing, scary, or are you simply wary about?