The Tower of AI

In the 11th chapter of Genesis, there is an enigmatic tale about "The Tower of Babel." It is the final installment of the book's origin stories and explains the diversity of languages among humans. It is also a tale about human hubris and technological advancement. 

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Humans, it seems, all speaking a unified language, came up with the technology of brickmaking. A seminal step in the evolution of human progress. With these bricks, they could build houses for everyone. They could build roads to anywhere. Instead, they decided to stack them up in a giant ziggurat (step-shaped pyramid) so they could reach heaven and become gods. They were not qualified for the job, of course. So, God confused their language, so they were humbled. 

In Greek mythology, Icarus decides to escape his imprisonment on Crete by making wax wings to fly away. He gets too close to the sun. Wings melt. Icarus crashes into earth. History shows us that blind devotion to technological advancement ends in disasters. The industrial revolution created the power to harness resources and produce good at unfathomable rates. It was good for the economy, created job, and advanced humanity. It also enables World War I, created a whole class of abused laborers who got poorer as the wealthy got richer. The nuclear age brought the ability to create energy and destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

Now comes Artificial Intelligence (AI). As an experiment, I asked Copilot to write me a church newsletter on AI. It did. It was not particularly good, used no biblical material, and ended up saying little. I could have published it, and you would have never known. To me, it would have been dishonest. 

I have come to use a phrase about AI that I saw a couple years ago. "Before we go too far with Artificial Intelligence, lets deal with human stupidity." That is a recent concern of some AI developers who are calling for extreme caution. There is a call for regulation, but multiple reliable news sources report that no one in the government is smart enough to know what to regulate. 

The president, this morning, said that AI developers need to police themselves, which is akin to telling the foxes not to eat the chickens, or the billionaire to pay taxes. Today, the New York Times, that Meta is using the guise of AI development to avoid billions in taxes. What could go wrong with self-regulation?

So, what are the problems? An MIT study shows that use of AI can make us dumber. We don't need help with that. AI can infiltrate secure data systems in a way no hacker can, accessing personal data of all types. Bill Gates, among others, sees AI taking away meaningful jobs. The list goes on. So, should it all be outlawed? No, of course not. 

AI also offers potential to help, to improve life. That said, it will have to be overseen in a "hubris free" manner that ensure we are not driven by gaining power, getting richer, avenging out enemies and so on. It is a biblical command. If AI can help us love one another and bring justice, then we should carefully explore. 

No one, in my mind, has put this issue in more faithful focus than Pope Leo XIV. In Pope Leo XIV's AI encyclical is titled Magnifica humanitas ("On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence"), released May 25, 2026. He urges safeguards for human dignity and calls for responsibility, transparency, and ethical limits as AI becomes more powerful. It is well worth the read as we become informed about the reality of this swiftly advancing technology. 

Pax Christi,
Timothy Olson
Lead Pastor