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. 

The porn industry in the United States alone generates anywhere between $15 to $97 billion a year. By comparison, Hollywood took in just $7.5 billion in 2022. Incentive structures like these motivate producers and investors to more effectively enslave others. High profits in the industry become tools to trap others, using enticements that cannot be matched by working a different job.  

Ultimately, the logic of consent is insufficient because it fails to account for the reality of the Fall. To reduce sexual ethics to consent assumes that people know enough and are innocent enough to make good choices, even in their own best interest. However, that is not the case.  

Scripture teaches and history confirms that fallen humans are not only sinful but also futile in their thinking. We are not only good at making bad choices, but as Chuck Colson often said, there’s no limit to the human capacity for self-rationalization. Because powerful technologies like AI promise seemingly unlimited power, instant gratification, and reduced accountability, it increases the potential of harm. After all, AI’s fundamental promise is unlimited capacity. The fundamental problem that plagues humanity after the Fall is not limited capacity to process information, rather it is an internal twistedness of purpose and desire. Increased capacity only increases the potential damage we may bring on ourselves and others. 

Technologically advanced humans are not less sinful. If consent wasn’t enough to manage our ethical dilemmas before AI, it certainly won’t be enough as the “miracle machine” becomes more accepted and widespread. We need more accountability, not less. The more powerful our technologies become, the more ethical weight is placed on our shoulders. If we cannot control our own sinful desires from within, the state will need to devise ways to govern us from without. In the end, the increased freedoms that AI promises may be the start of a new kind of tyranny.  

Of course, 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.