Reshaping the Conversation on the Ethics of AI

Eugene is also a visionary and a founder of an artificial intelligence (AI) startup. But when asked about the ethics of AI, he doesn’t have a particularly thoughtful response. Eugene shrugs, saying casually, “I don’t have time to think about ethics; I’m trying to put food on the table for my family. I’m trusting that the big fish in this race are thinking through those issues.”

At Eventide, we are less confident that the “big fish” are taking these matters to heart. Furthermore, they almost certainly do not look to the future through a biblical lens. As investors, we believe all investing is ownership, and that ownership confers ethical responsibility for the activities of the companies that we own.

Our future depends on us being intentional as we shape what AI is becoming and guide how it impacts the common good and human flourishing. Here we offer an ethical framework to provide structure as we grapple with changing realities.

Let’s start with what we believe to be foundational truths.

• Technological advancement must promote human dignity. People were made in God’s image. The use of AI must not degrade, exploit, or replace human value.

• AI should support human flourishing, particularly in work and in community. Looking to scripture for the purpose of man and the true definition of flourishing, we were created to have deep purpose, and much of that is through meaningful work and relationships. Man was made for human and heavenly connection. All AI investments should align with this.

• Stewardship confers responsibility. Humanity was entrusted to steward God’s creation with care. If we don’t exercise our authority over the capital and world entrusted to us, the paradigm championed by the “big fish” will dominate. This is relevant throughout the whole process of the AI roll-out.

With that laid as groundwork, we next layer in our Business 360® approach to think through all impacted stakeholders, imagining illustrations of potential opportunities and risks for each as well as a longer list of considerations.

• Employees: Fear of job elimination and displacement is the top worry for many with AI.

  • Opportunity: A junior lawyer now saves 30% of her time using AI to review 400-page contracts for inconsistencies, providing more time for higher-level work.

    • Key considerations: job augmentation; improved productivity and efficiency; and the creation of new AI-related jobs.

  • Risk: A recent college grad with a computer science degree cannot find a job given the slim number of entry-level openings; he moves back in with his parents while he “figures things out.”

    • Key considerations: job elimination and displacement, especially for those with low ability to reskill; pressure on entry level jobs; and loss of health insurance from unemployment.

• Customers: We see developments in AI as largely accretive in this category, such as personalization and tailored solutions.

  • Opportunity: A parent can meal plan and order groceries in minutes while accounting for local grocery store sales and her family’s dietary restrictions with the help of agentic AI.

    • Key considerations: personalized, tailored experiences and solutions; reduced time wasted for individual consumers; and improved efficiency and revenue opportunities for B2B uses.

  • Risk: Retailers use AI to predict exactly how much a specific customer is willing to pay, charging different people different prices for the same flight or gallon of milk.

    • Key considerations: data privacy and monetization; consumers becoming the input rather than the beneficiary; and unhealthy levels of personalization.

• Communities: There may be economic opportunity where data centers are built, but at risk of environmental and political disruption.

  • Opportunity: A struggling rural town sees a massive influx of tax revenue and high-speed fiber infrastructure because a tech giant built a data center nearby.

    • Key considerations: increased tax revenue, real estate value appreciation, and construction jobs where data centers are built.

  • Risk: A drought-prone community sees its local reservoir levels drop dangerously low because a nearby data center requires millions of gallons of water for cooling.

    • Key considerations: noise pollution; water pollution; wildlife disruption; community opposition to rezoning from agricultural to industrial land; and the political risk associated with all of the above.

• Environment: AI could support energy efficiency, but waste and overall demand for energy and water is expected to dramatically increase with the data center buildout.

  • Opportunity: Farmers use AI-linked drones to spot-spray weeds with 95% less herbicide, protecting local groundwater and soil health.

    • Key considerations: climate modeling; energy efficiency; waste reduction; clean energy and other green goals promoted by hyperscalers.

  • Risk: The rapid cycle of AI-specific chips becoming obsolete every 18 months creates a surge in toxic electronic waste that is difficult to recycle.

    • Key considerations: high energy and water demand for data centers; higher power prices for the broader population; and waste from discarded hardware.

• Suppliers: Supply chains have been one of the first things improved by AI, and this will only get better as natural language can be used to talk with machines.

  • Opportunity: Suppliers use autonomous shipping agents that automatically reroute cargo around a sudden storm, preventing a supply chain collapse.

    • Key considerations: supply chain efficiency and routing improvements.

  • Risk: A logistics AI is attacked with code that teaches it to approve faulty batches of goods.

    • Key considerations: cybersecurity breaches and systemic failure.

• Society: Learning and research and development could dramatically increase, but significant risks include over-reliance on AI, decisions being made without human oversight, overreaching surveillance, and mental health problems.

  • Opportunity: Scientists use AI-managed models to solve the folding structure of every known protein, leading to a wave of innovations for rare disease treatments.

    • Key considerations: accelerated research and development; enhanced diagnostic capabilities; and additional human connection thanks to improved efficiency.

  • Risk: As AI companions become "perfect" friends, people lose the social muscles needed to handle complex, messy human relationships.

    • Key considerations: Data privacy; de-skilling and over-reliance on AI; safety, liability, and systemic failure without a human backstop; lack of empathy and risk to mental health; bias and inequity; use of AI in weaponry and warfare; and overreach of AI-enabled surveillance.

We will be looking at the stakeholders in more detail in future pieces, assessing how we believe we can best support human flourishing with our investments, thinking, and personal interactions as AI becomes integrated into daily life.

We don’t know the future, but we do know that unchanging biblical truths should always serve as our guide. There are countless ways this could go wrong. Let’s get AI right.