Steering From Harm: Applying an Ethical Research Lens to AI and Bible Translation

From UNESCO to the Vatican, those who are involved in work that can be characterized as service to humanity have felt a need to clarify our ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) tool use and development. Bible translation organizations have accompanied their AI translation tool development with ethics conversations and statements. Such efforts are fitting; the Bible translation movement is arguably linked to the development of generative AI, from its genesis to a future that is not yet revealed.

Public discourse on AI tools within the Bible translation movement to date has been more focused on opportunities than risks. This paper is an attempt to balance the conversation. Using principles of research ethics as a theoretical framework, this paper examines actual and foreseeable risks of AI tool use and development in the language communities we serve. The author proposes an informed consent approach for dialogue about AI between Bible translation ministry partners and language communities.