Worldview and AI

Open: Griefbots: Blurring the Reality of Death and the Illusion of Life

Posted on February 7, 2025 Author Natasha Fernandez

Griefbots are an emerging technological phenomenon designed to mimic deceased individuals’ speech, behaviors, and even personalities. These digital entities are often powered by artificial intelligence, trained on data such as text messages, social media posts, and recorded conversations of the deceased. . . Griefbots are marketed as tools to comfort the grieving, offering an opportunity to maintain a sense of connection with lost loved ones. However, their implementation brings complex challenges that transcend technology and delve into the realms of morality, autonomy, and exploitation. 

Transition:

This is another example of the moral murkiness that surrounds the world of artificial intelligence. This use of technology, and other uses as well, raises the question: “just because something is possible to do, should it be done?” How a person answers that question reveals much of his or her worldview. So, instead of looking at additional specific uses of AI, today’s message has a big-picture focus on worldview.

Let’s start by looking at one passage in the NT that addresses this subject. Read the Text: 1 Cor. 2:12-14

Worldview Definition: “A “worldview” refers to a comprehensive conception of the world from a specific standpoint. A “Christian worldview,” then, is a comprehensive conception of the world from a Christian standpoint. An individual’s worldview is his “big picture,” a harmony of all his beliefs about the world. It is his way of understanding reality. One’s worldview is the basis for making daily decisions and is therefore extremely important.” (Gotquestions.org/Christian - worldview.html, accessed on 10/3/25)

Everyone has a WV. It is not a matter of “if I have one,” rather the issue is, “what kind of WV do I have, and is it consistent? In the 2 Corinthians text, Paul is addressing fellow believers who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (v. 12) and he contrasts them with lost people who are without the Spirit (v. 14). Note the conclusion: Natural man cannot (neither can he know) comprehend the Christian WV. Lost people think and behave differently than Christians!

Every WV has to give an answer to the big questions of life: How did I get here? (Why does life exist?) What am I here for? (What is my purpose?) What happens when I die?

Consider Naturalism’s answers to these questions:

I am the result of mindless evolutionary processes

I don’t really have a purpose because I am an accident of the Kosmos

I cease to exist because life has no meaning beyond the grave

Where is the hope in this way of living? Not too hard to connect the dots with teen suicide, mass shootings, abortion, and euthanasia. Should we really be surprised when people act on what they have been taught?

Worldview Issues for AI

Nature of Humanity

In a Christian Worldview, humans are understood to be the pinnacle of God’s special creation. We are in a unique category from every other living thing - humans are the only beings who contain the image of the Creator Himself

Genesis 1:26–27 KJV 1900

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

The naturalistic WV just sees humans as a higher form of animal, one that is the “lucky” product of advanced evolution. So, any technology, including AI, that assists humans in reaching their next “stage of evolution” is to be embraced at all costs.

The Christ-follower will be very cautious in uses of AI that seek to meld humans / machines or tech that simulates human behavior and wants to serve as a ‘replacement.’

Purpose for Humanity

God gave man a purpose when he was created. He instructed Adam to exercise dominion over the Creation. Mankind was given the task of being God’s vice-regents in stewarding all of the resources of the earth. This tasking is referred to as the Dominion Mandate and it is still in effect. This means that God would have us to exercise dominion over technology, including all aspects of Artificial Intelligence.

The one who is in Christ will have a desire to become more like Jesus. The overarching purpose of the Christian Life is to honor God as we work, as we go to school, as we play, and as we do family life. God does not want His people isolated in a commune in the desert; He wants us to be part of the culture and in the marketplace - BUT with a higher purpose as we seek to fulfill the Dominion Mandate.

The Naturalist has a different purpose. Since he is an accident of time and chance with no objective meaning, he seeks to create meaning in the pursuit of affluence, power, and knowledge. A very pragmatic approach to life

Illustration of the difference: Two married couples with infertility issues who are considering IVF procedures to have a child. The Christian couple with a consistent WV will consider the issue of life for all of the embryos, not just the one that will be implanted. (Sanctity of Life principle - life begins at conception). The naturalistic couple are viewing this from a pragmatic viewpoint - what gives us the best chance for a baby?

Application: Technological advances are NOT isolated from Morality. Just because we can do something does not mean that we should do that thing. One who is in Christ (if consistent) will filter life choices through God’s Word (Romans 12:1-2)

End of Life

The Christian WV is the only one that allows a person to approach the end of life with real hope. We have a Risen Savior who has conquered death and the grave. Those who are in Christ have the same promise (Romans 8:11) and this is our great hope.

The naturalist has no hope beyond the grave. This life is the only one for them, so it is no wonder they are pursuing the dream of immortality through AI (either transhumanist means or cyborg approaches).

Conclusion:

The Christian WV and the Naturalistic WV are very much distinct and have very different approaches to life. It is vastly important for people to understand the differences. As I stated last week, “where you start determines where you end up.”

Some in the naturalistic camp have taken admiration for Artificial Intelligence to its logical conclusion and have elevated it to the place of worship.

“And yet the secular tech world is determined to breathe new life into being, like Yahweh did to Adam in Genesis. It is obsessed with immortality, longing to un-eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge by technological means so that its leaders might get to stay in their gardens forever. It constantly promotes evangelistic new leaders as prophets, visionaries, oracles, and diviners of truth and success in equal measure.”

Silicon Valley’s Obsession With AI Looks a Lot Like Religion, by Greg Epstein

God is the ONLY being worthy of worship. To elevate technology to the place of deity breaks the 1st commandment and will lead its followers to Hell.

This is not to say that all lost people will end up worshiping some type of AI. It is to say that a naturalistic worldview will lead one to worship someone or something other than the One True God. This One True God has revealed Himself most fully in the person of Jesus, and it is only through faith in the finished work of Christ that a sinner is justified in the sight of a Righteous and Just God. Put your faith in Christ, not a chatbot!