Most tools have uses. Some tools have only one, others have many. Mobile phones and swiss army knives are good for many things, corkscrews and car tyres tend to be good for one particular job. But they are all good for some jobs nonetheless.

I know it is currently in vogue to dunk on AI, mobile phones and various other bits of tech. For the record, I think some of the dangers of these things are being helpfully highlighted and we are beginning to understand the detrimental effects of knowing everything all the time and having access to it constantly in our pocket. Raising a noise to suggest these things might not be unmitigated goods is not only valid, but right. However, we do want to make sure that we don’t overstate the case here.

Let’s just state some basic facts. AI, mobile phones and various other bits of tech are not inherently sinful. There is nothing immoral about using them per se. In raising the dangers around these things, we don’t want to overcorrect and insist that their usage is somehow inherently sinful. This is putting words (or principles) in God’s mouth that he has not stated.

It is, however, true that AI, mobile phones and various other bits of tech are not free of the pervasiveness of sin. That is not to say these things are sinful in and of themselves, but that the creators of them and the end users, along with those who market and sell them, certainly are! Whilst the thing is not sinful in and of itself, there is no scenario in which they can be made or used that is completely free of sin. They neither exist nor operate in a sin-free vacuum and cannot be made, sold or used by anyone other than a sinner. That, of course, does not mean every usage of these kinds of tech is sinful. But it does mean every usage of these things comes with a fundamental human problem of sin.

All this means that we probably do want to avoid a put-them-all-in-the-bin response like a Luddite whilst not quite adopting an embrace-them-as-though-they-are-problem-free position either. We are going to want to ask questions like: what are these tools good at and what are they bad for? How can these tools actively work for me and where might they harm me? How can I make best use of them without damaging myself? Which is, naturally, a much longer set of questions that take more thought than the keep-away-danger-danger alarmism of some and the unthinking full embrace of others.

But it does pay to remember that most tools are good for something and it is usually worth figuring out what those things are. It is also worth remembering few tools are good for everything and can be quite damaging if we wield them unwisely. Answering these particular questions are most likely to help us figure out how to best approach these things.