Providence and algorithmic prescription: new directions for theology and AI

Recent work in Christian ethics, including the work of Paul Scherz, has explicitly linked questions of AI governance to the Christian doctrine of providence. While this connection is apt, there is far more to be explored in AI’s providential parallel here than just questions of governance and prudential action. Employing the tripartite structure of providence borrowed from the Reformed scholastic tradition of preservation, concurrence, and governance, I argue that the former two aspects of providence are just as crucial to understanding the uses of LLMs by consumers. A close reading of AI marketing reveals the urge to make use of AI to fulfill similar narrative-structuring aims that have been a part of Christian talk of providence since Augustine’s Confessions. A Christian virtue ethical response then, must contend not only with talk of prudence, but also courage, accounting for narrative, affective, and relational aspects of the AI age.