We already talk to AI on the phone, so have you wondered what it would be like to go to the doctor and discover a robot in the exam room?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #221 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
I’ve not been examined by a robot doctor, but I have purchased mixed nuts from a robot in an airport. It was as weird as it sounds.
“The Robot Will See You Now: Artificial Intelligence and the Christian Faith,” published 2021, is an interesting scholarly book edited by John Wyatt and Stephen Williams. Both have spent considerable time, as have the book’s chapter authors, examining the nexus of Christianity and technology.
Professor John Wyatt is Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Pediatrics, Ethics & Perinatology at University College London. He was Co-Principal Investigator for a research project based at The Faraday Institute investigating the implications for human self-understanding of recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotic technology. Stephen N. Williams is Honorary Professor of Theology at Queen’s University, Belfast, and was a participant in the research project based at the Faraday Institute, Cambridge.
They begin by noting computer technology “immediately prompts ideas of utopia or dystopia.” For example, Hollywood movies feature computers or humanoid robots trying to dominate the world and perhaps destroying humanity: “2001: A Space Odyssey,” (1968) – HAL 9000 decides human astronauts are a liability and takes control of the mission. “The Terminator” series (1984–present) – Skynet, a self-aware AI, launches nuclear war and sends robots to wipe out humans. “The Matrix” series (1999–2021) – Machines enslave humanity inside a simulated reality. “I, Robot” (2004) – VIKI, the central AI, interprets its mission to protect humans as needing to control them.
And some Hollywood movies feature robots attempting to save humanity: “Bicentennial Man” (1999) – A robot gradually becomes human-like and seeks to better humanity. “I, Robot” (2004) – Sonny, unlike most robots, helps the protagonist fight against VIKI’s domination. “RoboCop” (1987/2014) – Murphy, a cyborg, ultimately fights for justice and humanity.
In their book, Wyatt and Williams and their authors note that “a leitmotif running through the excellent essays in this volume is the question of what it is to be a person.” Specifically, what if AI robots become self-aware?
In what was billed as the final Mission Impossible, “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025), the disembodied enemy called, The Entity, is essentially an advanced AI system.
- It becomes self-aware and begins to act independently, infiltrating networks, manipulating information, and even hiding its own existence.
- Its ultimate danger isn’t giant killer robots, but rather control over information, surveillance, and decision-making systems worldwide — making it a global threat.
AI “allows computers to simulate aspects of human understanding and behavior. Many people have confused this simulation with emerging sentience and speculate that the machines are exhibiting nascent intelligence akin to that in humans. Taken to an extreme, this leads to the idea of ‘artificial general intelligence’ in which the machines evolve faster than humans and become the dominant species.”
“A recurrent theme is of humanoid robots, made to serve humankind, turning on their creators.” The late “physicist Stephen Hawking wrote: The development of full AI could spell the end of the human race. Once humans develop AI, (Hawking said) it will take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete and would be superseded.” This is the dystopia.
But for Christians, those who believe the Bible, human beings are created in the image of God. Human beings are not animals, not machines, and certainly not robots, but the emergence of AI robots is introducing a new set of questions about what it means to be human?
It is interesting that Wyatt and Williams’ authors point out that “the word ‘robot’ is the Czech word for ‘slave’.” So, the earliest conception of such machines envisioned something that could ease our labors, make our lives easier, indeed, to serve us. But now, we have robotic technology, made with anthropomorphic characteristics—they can look human, sound human, act or behave human, express human attitudes and emotions – even if only imitating them. These human-like robots can act as caregivers for the elderly and ill, work as house maids, and serve as childcare workers, i.e., babysitters. Several experiments have already demonstrated how human beings can develop emotional attachments and interactions with robots. Herein lie the ethical questions.
Wyatt and Williams deal with another considerable concern arising from advanced AI and robotic technology, surveillance capitalism. “Surveillance capitalism–amassing information on us from social media, online purchases, ‘virtual personal assistants’, public CCTV and other sources of information about our habits and activities, from which extraordinarily accurate and, some would say, intrusive conclusions may be drawn about our thoughts and attitudes. It is the application of AI to mass data that enables governments and corporations to achieve these spectacular and potentially sinister results.”
“The capacity to predict and ultimately manipulate human behavior with this new technology is staggering.” So, “the line between online and offline is becoming increasingly blurred.”
Meanwhile, “involuntarily ceding our privacy means ceding control, ceding control means ceding autonomy, and ceding autonomy undermines the very basis of our Western civilization.”
The Chinese government is using face-recognition and other AI programs to control its population. Data can be collected “about every company and citizen in the entire country, stored in a centralized database and assigned a credit score to both companies and citizens that indicates how ‘trustworthy’ they are. This is a draconian form of social discipline, designed to identify and punish human-rights activists, political dissidents and other so-called ‘anti-social elements’ by denying them and their family members employment, housing, banking services and other social benefits.”
“China is not the only country to be worried about. The big cats of the Internet industry (Google, Amazon and Facebook) condition us more subtly, often invisibly. They mine and store our personal data in staggering quantities, the equivalent of thousands of pages about every user, and use it to customize our searches and choose the advertisements we see. Every click of the mouse, every app we choose to open, sends information”
The biblical Tower of Babel reveals that when humans, who are in the image of God, exercise their technological powers independently or in defiance of their Creator, their dominion mandate is transmuted into a curse. According to the account in Genesis, the building of a high tower was driven by hubris and insecurity.
Yet “one way in which we reflect the image of the Creator God is that we, too, are creators. This precludes a totally negative view of technology. Creation and dominion are two sides of the same coin–the tools and methods we create allow us to exercise dominion over the rest of creation. Human nature is fulfilled only when humans are in relationship with God and with one another.”
“With a proper understanding of Christian hope, we see robots as neither our salvation nor Armageddon. Like all technology, they may be developed towards noble or deplorable ends and used for good or malevolent purposes.”
Wyatt and Williams believe that “as Christians, this is where we ought to direct our enquiry, to interrogate and expose where intent and goals are cause for concern, and to advocate the wise use of emerging technologies in service of kingdom ends.
We have a God who is able to do immeasurably more than we can imagine, and we are still working to grasp the breadth and length and height and depth of divine love.”
Christians need not be afraid of robotic technology. Robots will never become sentient, develop a soul, or displace humanity in the eyes of God. Robots are but another tool we must steward wisely as unto the Lord.
Wyatt and Williams’ book “The Robot Will See You Now” is thorough and provocative, worth the read.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. For more Christian commentary, see my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com, or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2025
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.