Tackling Big Tech’s raid on real marriage

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Jason Thacker heads up technology research for the Southern Baptist Convention. He’s an expert in public policy around emerging tech. We spoke about the influence of Big Tech companies and the emerging threat to real marriage supporters from artificial intelligence.

Jason tells me that tech companies are “shaping” the public conversation, and yet are often unsupportive of real marriage. He stresses that “technology is not a neutral tool”, and warns that large tech companies have “immense power”.

Jason speaks of marriage as a “fundamental building block” of society. However, he argues that technology is shaping “the moral and social order” against real marriage.

Apps like TikTok use algorithms which have extreme effects on children. They “shape our behaviour, to shape our perspective on the world”.

Jason warns that output from emerging artificial intelligence tools is being “influenced and shaped by human beings”, with a “progressive view” of what good and bad look like.

To deal with this, Jason says, we must remember that “we are moral agents”, and must cultivate a “sense of virtue” in our interactions with technology and wider society. This includes encouraging “good faith content moderation” and contacting political representatives about such issues.

Importantly, he argues that parents “have the primary role of shaping children in their outlook on the world”, and must not abandon that influence to technology.

At C4M, we believe that real marriage wins the day. AI may be biased against traditional views of marriage, but we know that real marriage is best for men, women, children and society.