"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1)
This is not a statement about religious property. It is an ontological claim about reality. Everything that exists belongs to God because everything that exists was made by God, and making something does practical Christian engagement with technology rarely proceeds from it. The conversation about AI tends to default quickly to pragmatics: what can it do, how much does it cost, is it safe for my kids. The prior question gets skipped: if God owns this, what does that mean for how I hold it?
Ownership Is stewardship is different from ownership. A steward manages on behalf of an owner. The resources are not the steward's to dispose of however they choose. They are held in trust, to be used according to the purposes of the one who actually owns them, and returned with an accounting.
This reframes the question of technology entirely. The question is not "what can I do with this tool?" The question is: "what would the Owner have me do with this tool, and how would the Owner want me to account for it?"
What God's Ownership Means for Users
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)
Paul says this about eating and drinking, activities that seem far too ordinary to require theological justification. His point is that no activity falls outside the scope of that question. Using a phone, a laptop, or an AI assistant is no exception.
Some uses of AI are straightforwardly compatible with that standard:
- Researching a topic or understanding a complex subject
- Drafting a first pass at a document you will then edit seriously
- Finding study resources and original-language tools
Other uses are harder to justify:
- Generating content you will pass off as your own work
- Using AI to avoid the kind of effort that would have grown you
- Consuming AI-generated media in ways that displace genuine human connection or genuine encounter with God
These are they are worth examining against the ownership question: if the Owner of everything were watching how you are using this, would you be comfortable with the accounting?
No. The psalm is making an ontological point about ultimate ownership, not a policy statement about property rights. God's ultimate ownership is compatible with human stewardship, which includes legitimate possession and use of things. The practical implication is that every owner is actually a steward accountable to a higher owner.
It adds the accountability question to ordinary decisions. Before using a tool or creating content with AI, ask: would I be comfortable telling God exactly how I used this? That question does not prohibit AI use. It shapes it, ruling out uses that are dishonest, lazy, harmful, or oriented around self-glorification rather than genuine service.
Are AI companies doing something wrong by claiming to own their models?
AI companies have legal intellectual property rights to the systems they build. The stewardship claim is that they are not ultimate. A company that exercises those rights in ways that harm people, concentrate power irresponsibly, or deceive users is answerable to a higher authority than their investors, regardless of what they believe about it.
Doing your part of the work with integrity. Raising concerns when systems you help build will harm vulnerable people. Refusing to participate in deceptive design or manipulative features. Looking for ways your specific role can be exercised with the care that stewardship requires. And acknowledging, privately if not publicly, that the work is done before an audience that includes the one to whom all things ultimately belong.
