Should I work on a job that involves generative artificial intelligence? I feel responsible for artists (e.g., graphic designers) losing their jobs.

Many of us work at companies that currently use or even create generative AI (gen AI) products. Rather than avoiding the topic, we need tech-savvy believers to be salt and light in the workplace and engage thoughtfully on AI.

I use gen AI every day at work and at home. As I’ve wrestled with this topic, a few considerations have been helpful.

1. New technology often disrupts, but that doesn’t make it inherently bad.

In the mid-1900s, conventional wisdom was that the earth couldn’t produce enough food to support a population of 2 billion people. In hindsight, we see this wasn’t the case. New technologies brought more productive, disease-resistant crops. Today, we sustain a population of 8 billion, thanks to continual advances in agricultural technology.

At the same time, many farm jobs disappeared. In the United States today, there are nearly 76 percent fewer jobs in agriculture than in 1950. Technological advances meant substantially more food could be produced by far fewer workers. For those who were hungry, this was a life-saving gift. For communities centered on agriculture, job losses brought hardship and, as people left to look for work, sundered relationships. We’ve seen the same in other sectors like manufacturing.

New technologies bring with them benefits and disruption. The printing press made the Bible accessible to ordinary people. It also made hand-copying books obsolete. Photographs captured real-life moments, but they also reduced the need for portrait painters.

When it comes to design, Gen AI will bring a new set of tools and techniques for doing the work, but it won’t change every aspect of the craft. GenAI is already being incorporated into design workflows alongside legacy tools. Car designers still spend years making hand-carved clay models, alongside virtual reality design and 3D printing. We still pay to watch musicians and athletes work in person, even if AI can produce similar sounds on our computers at home. Even in farming and manufacturing, human beings still guide and direct technology for best results.

Gen AI will change the nature of work for many. We must ask some questions: How should we use AI, and how should we serve those affected?

2. Technology can support or subvert our creation mandate.

Christians should work with gen AI technology when it helps fulfill humanity’s call to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it (Gen. 1:28). Here are a few examples of how gen AI can be used for the good of society:

• By enabling people to accomplish administrative tasks faster, freeing them for other meaningful pursuits
• By making it easier and faster to research and learn
• By accelerating scientific discovery, expanding our understanding of the natural world

Gen AI also has the potential to amplify our worst tendencies, especially greed, self-centeredness, and laziness. Here are some ways gen AI can harm our society:

• By stealing, copying, or otherwise cheapening human creativity (especially pernicious in our education system)
• By substituting for creative thinking (also rampant in our education system)
• By fostering parasocial relationships that replace friendships or even romantic relationships

It matters what you’re doing with your gen AI tools. If your firm’s usage of these tools harms society, accepting the job wouldn’t be the best use of your gifts. If you’re confident the gen AI solutions you would use or build are genuinely beneficial to society and support our creation mandate, accepting the role may be the right decision, even if a side effect of your work is that some jobs change or disappear.

3. Disruption offers a chance to love our neighbors.

What should you do if your work results in people losing their jobs? In Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller says believers should go to great lengths to treat people with dignity and respect amid disruptive change:

Consider the case of an unavoidable layoff. Of course, at various times in any community’s life some stakeholders need to sacrifice for the long-term good of the whole. Nevertheless, it is possible to handle these situations with love. . . . Treating people as human beings with dignity rather than interchangeable resources means being transparent with information, offering extensive two-way communication, and seeking genuinely to persuade rather than merely to control people’s responses. Treating people with dignity in the midst of the reality of downsizing and layoffs requires a strong moral compass. But belief in the image of God can bring a new dimension to the conduct of organizational life.

Here are a few ways you can care for artists affected by your work:

• Ensure the artist community is aware of the change your tools will create, and give them time to prepare. For example, if you’re developing tools that create digital art, share them on graphic design forums or allow designers to serve as beta testers.
• Hold workshops for artists to teach them how to use the latest tools.
• Offer your product for free or at a discount for artists. Donate licenses to arts programs so students can develop skills for a changing creative economy.
• Create opportunities for artists to make money.

4. Decision-making is best done in consultation with the Word, the Spirit, and other Christians.

Even if this job is good overall for society, the Lord may lead you in another direction. Remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to your conscience. If something about this role gives you pause, there’s nothing wrong with walking away.

In The Tech-Wise Family, Andy Crouch unpacks the role tech should have in our lives: “Technology is in its proper place only when we use it with intention and care.”

Generative AI in its proper place can be used to bring about tremendous good in the world. When used with the wrong motivations or without consideration, it can wreak havoc. We need godly men and women working with intention and care to shape the way it’s used.