At Question Box earlier this month, someone asked: “Is there a point when AI stops being a tool and becomes a child — then what do we owe it?”

January’s worship theme is childhood, so Rev. Claire has taken the opportunity to tackle this question.

First, I’m not an AI expert, but we do have one in the congregation — Felicia, who started the AI-Powered Women conference. I’m honored and a little daunted to be part of a panel she is hosting at the MIT chapel on January 27, called “Women Holding Wonder: Ethics, Awe & Human-Centered Leadership in the Age of AI.”

Here’s my current perspective: AI is not, and never will be, a human, or have human emotions. AI language models mimic human emotion by using the words we use to describe emotions, but that does not mean that the computer is having feelings. For example, Chat-GPT can generate a restaurant review, but it has never actually tasted any food.

I think the question of what we might owe a hypothetical childlike AI obscures how rarely — sadly — we ask this question about human beings. What do we owe real children living today? Right now, our own country denies children food and safety, and even tears them away from their parents due to horrific immigration practices. In her story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” author Ursula K. LeGuin offers a stunning allegory about how we allow harm to come to children.