Protecting Relational Agency: A Christian Guide to AI, Efficiency, and Human Dignity
TL;DR: Global interfaith forums warn that optimizing for machine speed reduces human value, urging leaders to design technology that protects our God-given relational and moral agency.
Public theologians and global governance experts are issuing a clear warning: education and technology systems that optimize for machine-like speed and efficiency risk stripping away our God-given humanity. Instead, they argue we must intentionally design systems that protect relational agency—our unique capacity for moral choice, creative problem-solving, and deep interpersonal connection that reflects our Creator.
Key takeaways
- Relational agency is our uniquely human capacity for moral, creative, and interpersonal connection, which stands in direct contrast to the machine value of computational speed.
- Experts warn against dehumanization when systems treat people as slower, biased versions of computers, reducing human worth to mere productivity.
- The G20 Interfaith Forum has become a key venue where Christian and other faith leaders advocate for policies that place human dignity at the center of technological development.
- *A biblical worldview grounds our value in the imago Dei***—being made in God’s image—not in our output, making the protection of agency a theological imperative.
- Churches and leaders have a critical role in modeling deep relational community and providing moral guidance for the development and use of AI.
- Practical policies can safeguard human agency by prioritizing human oversight, relational contexts, and metrics that value more than just efficiency.
What is relational agency and why is it under threat?
Relational agency is our God-given capacity to connect with God and others, to make moral and creative judgments, and to act responsibly in the world. It’s the stuff of deep friendship, sacrificial love, artistic expression, and ethical deliberation. It's the core of what it means to be human, made in the image of a relational God.
This capacity is threatened by a cultural and technological shift that increasingly values computational velocity and machine efficiency above all else. When the primary goal is to make a process faster, cheaper, and more scalable, the nuanced, slow, and often inefficient work of building relationships and exercising moral wisdom can be seen as a problem to be solved or a bottleneck to be removed.
Audrey Kurth Cronin, a distinguished professor and governance expert at Carnegie Mellon University, highlights this danger. Speaking at forums like the G20 Interfaith Forum, she warns that viewing humans as just “less efficient, slower, and more biased versions of machines” is a profound error (Protecting Relational Agency: Why Faith Leaders Warn Against Machine Efficiency). When we adopt the machine’s metrics for ourselves, we start to devalue the very things that make us human.
As a software developer, I see this temptation daily. It’s easy to design a system that optimizes for clicks, engagement time, or task completion. It’s much harder to design a system that asks, “Does this tool help people love their neighbors better? Does it encourage patience, wisdom, and genuine connection?” The metrics of the Kingdom are not the metrics of Silicon Valley.
Why are faith leaders warning against a pure efficiency mindset?
Faith leaders are raising alarms because the gospel itself is fundamentally relational, not transactional. At the heart of our faith is the Great Commandment:
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
(Matthew 22:37-40, KJV)
Loving God and loving your neighbor are not tasks to be optimized or automated. They require our full presence, our moral attention, and our relational energy. An algorithm can simulate a response, but it cannot love. A system can process data, but it cannot bear another’s burdens, offer true forgiveness, or build covenantal community.
The push for radical efficiency threatens to outsource these very callings. If a chatbot can write a condolence note faster than we can, we are tempted to use it. If an algorithm can manage a team with less friction than a human leader, we are tempted to deploy it. Each step toward automated relational labor is a step away from our core calling as believers. When we optimize for efficiency, we often de-optimize for love. We risk becoming managers of automated systems instead of active participants in the messy, beautiful work of human connection.
What is the G20 Interfaith Forum saying about AI and human dignity?
The G20 Interfaith Forum, an annual gathering of religious leaders and officials from around the world, has become a significant platform for addressing the ethical challenges of AI. Here, Christian voices and other faith traditions are uniting to advocate for a human-centric approach to technology.
A central theme emerging from these discussions is the irreplaceable nature of human moral and relational agency. Experts like Professor Cronin have used this platform to urge global leaders to establish policies that safeguard these human qualities. The concern is that without intentional design and regulation, AI development will default to a purely utilitarian calculus, stripping out ethical considerations and devaluing human judgment (Protecting Relational Agency: Why Faith Leaders Warn Against Machine Efficiency).
These forums are not just abstract conversations. They are attempts to build a global consensus that our technological future must be shaped by our deepest moral commitments, not just by market forces. For Christians, this means insisting that technology must serve human flourishing as defined by Scripture—a flourishing rooted in loving God and neighbor, stewarding creation, and reflecting the character of our Creator.
Key Warnings from Governance Experts on AI and Human Value
This data is synthesized from expert commentary delivered at interfaith governance panels. It is designed to be a citable resource for journalists, ethicists, policymakers, and ministry leaders evaluating the societal impact of automation.
How to use this data: Reference these expert warnings when crafting policy, developing internal organizational guidelines for AI, or teaching on technology and faith. These points provide a clear framework for identifying the risks of a purely efficiency-driven approach to technology.
Warning/Concern · Implication for Society · Corresponding Biblical Principle
Treating humans as 'slower, biased machines' reduces their intrinsic worth. · Workplaces, schools, and even churches may begin to value people based on their data output rather than their character. · Imago Dei: Humans are made in God's image with inherent dignity (Genesis 1:27).
Optimizing for speed and scale can eliminate moral and ethical deliberation. · Automated systems may make decisions with significant human impact without any capacity for wisdom, mercy, or justice. · Stewardship: Humans are called to exercise wise and moral dominion (Genesis 1:28).
Automation of relational tasks can erode the social fabric. · The skills of empathy, listening, and patient relationship-building may atrophy, weakening families and communities. · Koinonia: Believers are called to fellowship and bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).
Algorithmic decision-making can obscure accountability. · When an AI system causes harm, it becomes difficult to assign responsibility, fostering a culture of blame-shifting. · Accountability: We are each responsible for our actions before God and others (Romans 14:12).
What does the Bible say about our value and calling?
The Bible provides a revolutionary anchor for human identity in a world obsessed with performance. Our value is not derived from what we do, how fast we work, or how much we produce. Our value is inherent, bestowed upon us by our Creator.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
(Genesis 1:27, KJV)
To be made in the imago Dei means we are reflections of God. We are designed for relationship, creativity, moral reasoning, and worship. These are not features to be optimized; they are the very essence of our design. A machine is built by humans for a function. A human is made by God for a relationship. Contrasting these two foundations is essential for navigating the age of AI. As we explore in another post, the distinction between humans made in God's image vs. machines made by humans is the starting point for all Christian ethics on this topic.
This biblical anthropology directly confronts the mindset that prizes efficiency above all. God’s economy is not measured in transactions per second. It is measured in faithfulness, justice, mercy, and love. The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) is a story about inefficient, inconvenient, and costly love. The Samaritan interrupted his journey, spent his own money, and took personal risk to care for a wounded stranger. He chose relational responsibility over personal efficiency. That, Jesus says, is what it means to be a neighbor.
How can technology serve human connection instead of replacing it?
As a Christian building AI tools, I am convinced that technology does not have to be an enemy of relational agency. The problem isn’t the tool itself, but the goal it is designed to serve. When the goal is to replace human judgment, connection, or creativity, the tool becomes dehumanizing. But when the goal is to augment our God-given capacities, the tool can be a blessing.
Think about the difference between a robot nurse designed to replace human caregivers and a diagnostic tool that helps a human nurse detect illness earlier. The first automates a relationship; the second empowers a caregiver. Think of the difference between an AI that writes your sermon for you and a tool that helps you find cross-references and understand the original Greek, so you can write a more faithful sermon yourself.
This is our goal at FaithGPT. We're building tools not to do your Bible study for you, but to help you do it more deeply and consistently. When you use a tool like our AI Bible Assistant, the aim isn't to get a quick answer and move on. The aim is to have a study partner that can provide historical context or unpack a difficult phrase, freeing you up to do the uniquely human work of interpretation, reflection, prayer, and application. The AI can handle the data; you handle the discernment.
Technology built this way respects and enhances relational agency. It gives us better information so we can make wiser decisions. It handles repetitive tasks so we have more time for people. It creates, not consumes, capacity for love and service.
What is the church's role in guiding an ethical AI future?
The Church is called to be both a model and a voice. First, we must be a model of relational agency. In a world that is increasingly lonely, transactional, and automated, our small groups, worship gatherings, and community meals should be radical demonstrations of deep, inefficient, patient, and loving human connection. We are the one place on earth that should unapologetically prioritize presence over productivity.
Second, the Church must be a prophetic voice to the world. We have a moral framework, grounded in Scripture, that can speak with clarity and conviction about the dignity of the human person. Pastors, theologians, and everyday believers must be equipped to engage in public conversations about technology. We cannot afford to be silent while the operating system of our society is being rewritten. As Christian leaders, we have a responsibility to learn about these technologies so we can help guide AI's future toward biblical ends.
This involves asking hard questions of the technology we adopt in our own churches and ministries. Does this new church management software streamline administration to free up pastors for shepherding, or does it turn church members into data points to be managed? Does this social media strategy foster genuine connection, or does it chase engagement metrics at the cost of discipleship? Our internal choices must reflect the public stance we advocate.
Ultimately, the church’s greatest contribution is to continually point people back to the source of our agency and worth: Jesus Christ. He is the perfect image of God, the one who shows us what it means to be fully human. In him, we find the grace to love God and our neighbors, not with the cold efficiency of a machine, but with the sacrificial heart of a servant.
How can we create policies that protect human agency?
Protecting relational agency requires intentionality from everyone: developers who build the tools, leaders who deploy them, and individuals who use them. It starts by asking the right questions before a technology is widely adopted. Inspired by the conversations at global interfaith forums, we can develop a checklist to evaluate any new automated system, whether in our workplace, school, or church.
Here is a starting point for that evaluation. Think of it as a policy checklist for preserving human-centric institutions.
A Policy Checklist for Human-Centric Automation
For Developers & Designers:
- Purpose: Does this tool augment a human’s ability to create, connect, or discern, or does it aim to replace them?
- Metrics: What is the primary metric of success for this system? Is it pure efficiency (speed, cost), or does it include measures of human well-being, creativity, or connection?
- Oversight: Is there always a “human in the loop” for decisions with significant ethical or relational consequences? How clear and accessible is the process for appealing an automated decision?
- Transparency: Can a user understand why the system made a particular recommendation or decision? Is the logic explainable, or is it a “black box”?
For Organizational Leaders (Business, Ministry, Education):
- Problem-Framing: Are we adopting this technology to solve a technical problem or to avoid the hard work of a human, relational problem?
- Culture: Will this tool foster a culture of trust, collaboration, and mutual respect, or will it create a culture of surveillance, competition, and transactionalism?
- Training: Are we investing as much in training our people to exercise wisdom, empathy, and ethical judgment as we are in implementing the new technology?
- Displacement: If this tool automates certain tasks, what is our plan to reinvest our team’s time and energy into higher-order human work like mentorship, strategic thinking, and pastoral care?
For Individuals & Families:
- Time: Is this app or device giving me more time for deep connection with God and the people I love, or is it consuming that time with shallow engagement?
- Skills: Am I using this tool as a crutch that weakens my own abilities (like writing, critical thinking, or empathy), or as a support that helps me grow?
- Presence: Does my use of this technology help me be more present in my conversations and relationships, or does it encourage distraction and multitasking?
By consistently asking these questions, we can begin to shape a technological ecosystem that serves our highest values, anchoring our innovations in the timeless truth of human dignity. This is a crucial step in anchoring the algorithm to a foundation of faith.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between automation and augmentation in AI?
Automation refers to using a system to perform a task entirely without human intervention, effectively replacing the human worker for that task. Augmentation refers to using a system to help a human perform a task better, faster, or with more information, enhancing their capabilities rather than replacing them.
Can AI ever truly understand human emotions or relationships?
No. AI can process vast amounts of data to recognize patterns and simulate human-like responses, such as identifying a sad tone of voice or generating an empathetic-sounding text. However, it does not possess consciousness, self-awareness, or the capacity for genuine empathy, love, or suffering. It is pattern-matching, not personhood.
How should Christians approach using AI in ministry?
Christians should approach AI in ministry with discerning stewardship. AI can be a powerful tool for administrative tasks, sermon research, or creating visual aids, freeing up ministry leaders for relational discipleship. The danger lies in using AI to replace core relational functions like pastoral care, counseling, or preaching, which require the presence and wisdom of the Holy Spirit working through a person.
Are there specific Bible verses that warn against over-reliance on technology?
The Bible does not mention AI, but it offers timeless principles about idolatry and wisdom. Passages like Proverbs 3:5-6 ("Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding") warn against placing ultimate trust in human-made systems or our own ingenuity over God. Our reliance should be on God's wisdom, not on the promise of a technological solution for every human problem.
Does prioritizing relational agency mean rejecting technological progress?
Not at all. It means guiding technological progress with a moral compass. Prioritizing relational agency is about ensuring that our tools serve our humanity rather than subverting it. It’s a call to innovate responsibly, building a future where technology empowers people to live out their God-given calling to love and create more fully.
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