The true antidote to human sinfulness is neither regulation nor self-discipline. We will not be made more moral. We must rather be made new. Christ’s redeeming work on the cross is the only thing that can accomplish this, which is why those who have been redeemed can have a redeeming influence, even in an AI world. 

Any technology will, because of the human condition, eventually be used for nefarious purposes. AI is no exception, whether it is students having ChatGPT write essays or Google Gemini rewriting history through fabricated images. More consequential by far is how AI has transformed the production and harmful reach of pornographic content.

For example, “AI pimping” is the term to describe pornography that is generated by AI using authentic photographs of real people, usually for profit or revenge. Among its darker abuses are pornographic images of classmates that are created and shared by students as young as middle school. Other instances include anonymous “AI Influencers” who steal content, claim it as their own, and then generate profit by posting it to so-called “adult content” platforms. Even Taylor Swift is a victim of pornographic “deep fakes.” A “softer” form of AI Pimping can be found in apps that give users the ability to create videos of them kissing their crush.

Though the obvious violation of consent, the only virtue that is supposed to matter after the “liberation” of the sexual revolution, is deeply problematic, it’s not the only or even the chief problem here. Like any form of pornography, the harms of AI pimping are not mitigated if individuals are 18 years old, are compensated, and have given consent. To dehumanize oneself is, perhaps, the saddest form of dehumanization, but it is dehumanization, nonetheless.

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