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11 - Black Theology × Artificial Intelligence

from Part II - Social and Moral Issues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2024

By
Philip Butler
Edited by
Beth Singler  and
Fraser Watts
Beth Singler
Affiliation:
Universität Zürich
Fraser Watts
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Artificial intelligence (AI) is presented as a portal to more liberative realities, but its broad implications for society and certain groups in particular require more critical examination. This chapter takes a specifically Black theological perspective to consider the scepticism within Black communities around narrow applications of AI as well as the more speculative ideas about these technologies, for example general AI. Black theology’s perpetual push towards Black liberation, combined with womanism’s invitation to participate in processes that reconstitute Black quality of life, have perfectly situated Black theological thought for discourse around artificial intelligence. Moreover, there are four particular categories where Black theologians and religious scholars have already broken ground and might be helpful to religious discourse concerning Blackness and AI. Those areas are: white supremacy, surveillance and policing, consciousness and God. This chapter encounters several scholars and perspectives within the field of Black theology and points to potential avenues for future theological areas of concern and exploration.

Keywords

artificial intelligenceBlack posthumanismBlack theologytechnologysurveillanceliberationpolicing
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Artificial Intelligence , pp. 182 - 200
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

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