AI and data centers are not a problem if God is involved, says Doug DeVos and his fellow believers

Last month I wrote a piece about how the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce has publicly endorsed Data Centers. I cited a recent report from Data Center Watch there has been $64 billion of data center projects that have been blocked because communities have become organized.

Last week I wrote a piece about the GR Chamber of Commerce annual Policy Conference, where they hosted a panel of pro-data center apologists.

Just yesterday I received my weekly Email from Believe! – the online journal put out by Doug DeVos. The featured topic for the most recent Believe Journal centers on AI and data centers, with the cover story entitled, God from the Machine.

Early on in the article from DeVos he states:

It’s certainly easy to get carried away by the AI wave. The technology is surely the most amazing invention in human history. But make no mistake: Artificial intelligence hasn’t destroyed humanity’s desperate need for God. And if we let AI further separate us from faith, this technology will quickly spin out of control, doing untold damage to the family, to community, and to the very fabric of our society.

Here DeVos seeks to reframe the debate around AI, not what it will do to eco-systems or how it will perpetuate the wealth gap by putting more money in the pockets of the tech industry, rather he fears that without a God-centered AI it will destroy us all.

DeVos continues in this same vein by writing:

And so we believe that God is necessary to save us from AI gone wrong. It’s deeply concerning that many—perhaps most—of AI’s developers don’t seem to understand or appreciate Christianity. Silicon Valley isn’t exactly known as a hotbed of faith. While there are certainly good Christians working in the AI industry, the ecosystem is steeped in secularism, shaping AI in ways that can undermine human flourishing.

So, secularism is the real culprit. AI won’t be a problem if God and specifically the Christian version of God is guiding society’s hand around AI and data centers. DeVos eventually acknowledges that AI could create problems for society, but in the end he uses the same arguments that AI/Data Center apologists are using when he says:

We absolutely need more people of faith and virtue building AI companies and tools, with the goal of expanding opportunity and uplifting the human experience. We can’t leave this brave new world of innovation solely to non-believers. By the same token, as families and citizens, we need to demand the moral and virtuous use of AI. In some cases, that means pressuring companies to avoid evil. In other cases, it could mean supporting laws to keep AI on the straight on narrow.

Make no mistake, Doug DeVos truly believes that AI/Data Centers can expand opportunity and uplifting the human experience. His only caveat is to make sure that those making the decisions about AI/Data Centers are Christians, like DeVos and his family. Just to be clear DeVos and his family of Christians donated to and helped elected Donald Trump, have worked to undermine labor unions for decades, fought against public education, have opposed same sex marriage and trans rights, and have been the single largest political donor to the Republican Party in Michigan since 1990.

The DeVos family is worth $5.4 billion and is always seeking to expand their wealth, as good Christians, while there are thousands of families in Kent County that are struggling to survive. Despite their massive wealth, the DeVos family also uses hundreds of millions of dollars of public money to subsidize projects like the Amphitheater, Soccer Stadium, the Three Towers Project and possibly another proposed hotel in downtown Grand Rapids. Therefore, when Doug DeVos says that he wants good Christians to run and manage AI and Data Centers – not secularists – we should be looking at what the DeVos family of Christians has been doing for decades and discern whether or not they have a moral leg to stand on in regards to making sure that Christians are in charge of AI and Data Centers.

In his concluding remarks Doug DeVos says, “This will be a challenge, not least because so many Americans have fallen away from faith. But that should only stiffen our spines to fight for AI done right.” Like the billionaires behind the recent data center push in West Michigan, we need to recognize the DeVos family has more in common with the tech billionaires than they do with working class families that will struggle to survive in greater number when AI/Data Centers come to dominate more of our economy and our lives.