Hope and discernment in the digital age
As technology continues to rapidly evolve, I’m grateful to be in a community of Christian scholars. Our professors and students wrestle with the moral implications of big data and artificial intelligence with hope and discernment. Foremost on their minds are questions such as: Does this new tool enhance our humanness, our personhood, and our communities to realize the SBGE mission of “advancing human flourishing”? The lenses these questions provoke are the Christian affirmation that we are human beings made in the image of God and are co-creators with God. This beautiful truth helps our students explore the ways AI can enhance our creativity, personal voice, empathy, and humility. But it can also create awareness of the ways AI can harm and isolate.
We invite you to join us in thinking through some of the implications of AI and technology in this issue of Shareholders. And we’d love to delve deeper into these topics with you in one of our graduate programs.
Warm regards,
Ross Stewart
Ryan Labrie, Professor of Management and Information Systems
MS-DAB professors on data, AI, and ethics
We talked to two professors, Ryan LaBrie and Andy Chen, who teach in the Master’s of Science-Data Analytics in Business program about how they approach AI, data, and ethics in the classroom.
Ryan LaBrie, Professor of Management and Information Systems
How do data and AI work together?
AI systems work much better now in this age of big data. If you only have a few pieces of data to draw conclusions or make predictions, AI won’t help you much. One example of an early-on failure of an AI recommendation system was when my 91-year-old grandmother made her first purchase on Amazon.com (a Harry Potter book for my daughter’s birthday). She wasn’t personally interested in children’s fantasy, but for the rest of her life she received recommendations for that genre of literature — think Narnia and Lord of the Rings books.
Do you have any recommendations for how to approach AI and big data from a Christian perspective?
Generally, I view technology as neither good nor bad, but it’s what you do with it. Do you remember the author Isaac Asimov? In 1942 he wrote a short story called “Runaround” that included three laws of robots. The first was that “a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” Just as doctors take a Hippocratic Oath to uphold ethical standards in medical practice, I believe developers of AI systems should take some sort of an Asimovic Oath.
As an educator, how do you feel about tools like ChatGPT where a student could potentially use AI to write papers and do other work?
I would say a couple of things. First off, as an educator it’s important to ask the right questions. It would be easy for ChatGPT to write an essay about Ralph Waldo Emerson. But if you asked ChatGPT to write an essay about what Ralph Waldo Emerson believes in light of a recent event, it wouldn’t have enough data to do so effectively. Furthermore, in an assignment prompt, you could ask the student to relate the topic at hand to their own individual experience, thus making it harder for the AI agent to create that sort of content.
As we move forward with generative AI, I’m not too concerned about ChatGPT. Yes, there will be many more like it, and many applications of it, but this is an arms race. Open AI (the company that developed ChatGPT) is also working on a detector, and I’m fairly confident that they will freely distribute that technology as well.
Andy Chen, Assistant Professor of Marketing and Data Analytics
Andy Chen, Assistant Professor of Marketing and Data Analytics
As a Christian professor, how do you approach thinking and teaching about big data and AI?
I focus on ethics and connect to how the Bible talks about ethics in general. For example, in Isaiah 47:7, it says, “You did not reflect on your actions or think about the consequences.” Thinking about possible consequences is an important step in protecting customers and their data. In class, we’ll talk about examples of data breaches and companies who have been hacked and lost data. Even though data is electronic, it still represents a physical human being who is a child of God.
How can AI contribute to a flourishing world?
In many areas, AI solutions can do jobs more efficiently and accurately than humans, which means less errors. For example, AI has been found to detect breast cancer more accurately than human doctors.
Bruce Baker, Professor Emeritus of Business
Baker explores AI through the lens of faith
Recently Bruce Baker, professor emeritus of business, wrote chapters for two books: AI, Faith, and the Future and Technē: Christian Visions of Technology.
For AI Faith, and the Future, Baker examined sin and grace in the context of AI.
“AI constructs a membrane between people and tries to filter and manipulate our interactions in ways that benefit whoever owns the machine,” he said. “It’s helpful for us to reflect on how that creates cracks in our world to allow sin to seep in.”
In Technē: Christian Visions of Technology, Baker asks questions to help pastors interact with their congregations. Some of the questions include, “Can AI possess a soul?”; “Can AI be conscious?”; and “Can AI be evil?”
“I want the church to boldly dive into these questions,” Baker said. “Everything is under the realm of God. There is no question for us to fear. I want churches that are so alive with thinking and understanding through the eyes of faith.”
Alumna Spotlight: Elsa Yammin
Elsa Yammin,
Staff Product Manager for Residential Energy Products at Tesla
MS-DAB ’21
As an undergraduate public policy major, Elsa Yammin never thought she’d work in corporate America — or with technology. But she ended up mastering in data analytics at SPU and has worked at Tesla since 2020. In her current role, she guides residential energy products, such as the Solar Inverter, to market, and finds joy in “accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
“The (MS-DAB) program provided me with the technical skills to be able to analyze the data and derive insights from it, which drives all of our business decisions,” she said. “You can have people run the data for you, but doing it yourself is incredibly useful.”
When she started the MS-DAB program, she felt overwhelmed by her lack of technical knowledge. But eventually she grasped and then mastered the concepts of applied data analytics.
“I’m grateful for the professors. They’d say, ‘Keep going and it will all make sense in the end. Don’t give up.’ If not for them, I wouldn’t be here today. Data analytics is such useful knowledge. It can be applied anywhere. Everything’s data-driven these days.”
Become a data scientist at SPU
What can a graduate degree in data analytics do for you? This applied, collaborative-based Master’s of Science-Data Analytics in Business curriculum will build on your passion to gather, organize, and analyze data — inside or outside of business contexts. Use your leadership skills to extract meaning from raw data and transform it into a usable asset that can make a difference. If you’re ready to take the next step in your career, apply for our MS-DAB degree today.
Is SPU’s MBA program the next step in your calling?
If you want to become a leader who uses business to serve the common good, consider SPU’s MBA program. The program is newly enhanced with 13 graduate business certificate programs and is fully online, so you can receive a high-quality AACSB accredited business education no matter where you live. The program is particularly relevant for anyone who wants to stay on the cutting edge of technology while also using business to advance human flourishing. Request more information today!
SPU announces 12th president
Deana Porterfield, president of Roberts Wesleyan University and Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan University, was elected as SPU’s 12th president in its 132-year history. She will assume her duties on July 1, 2023.
“As an academic community, SPU has always led the way, bringing new insights and thoughtful discussion to complex conversations that face us in our society,” Porterfield said. “The work needed to take on the challenges ahead begins with us, and I look forward to partnering with the SPU community in prayer, deep hope, and confidence that we can move SPU forward.”
Geri Mason, Associate Professor of Economics
SBGE name PRME champion school again
SBGE has garnered the prestigious PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) Champion designation through the United Nations Global Compact once again. SPU is one of only three schools in the United States and 47 throughout the world to receive this status.
“Our faith informs our engagement as a PRME Champion, because it teaches us that we need to see business as service to others and society,” said Geri Mason, associate professor of economics. “Our primary purpose is to reclaim business, government, and civil society as a force for flourishing. It’s embedded in who we are. It’s not optional for us.”
Faith & Co. film highlights investing in black entrepreneurs
In response to capital-access challenges they faced, three successful Black entrepreneurs joined forces to launch Collab Capital, a faith-driven, Atlanta-based investment fund. Collab’s unique investment model and systems approach come alongside innovative, early-stage Black founders to scale their businesses and build generational wealth for their families and communities.
SBGE hosted IIMA Conference
SBGE and Gerhard Steinke, professor of management and information systems, hosted the thirty-third annual conference of the International Information Management Association (IIMA) in Seattle Oct. 23-26. Conference participants traveled from as far away as the UK and the Netherlands. The conference took place at the Museum of Flight as well as in the Falcon’s Lounge on the SPU campus.
“Sustainability is a team sport”
We welcomed Jacqueline Drumheller, the sustainability program manager at Bio-Rad Laboratories, to campus on October 17 for the Dean’s Speaker Series. Drumheller explained how she fell into developing and implementing the award-winning corporate sustainability strategy for Alaska Air Group. She is currently spearheading Bio-Rad’s sustainability strategy. Her interactive lecture provided many real-life examples of both helpful and performative strategies corporations have implemented.
Steve Bell was presented with the 2023 Integrity in Business Award
We honored Steve Bell with the Frank Haas Integrity in Business Award on Feb. 10. Bell is the founder of Bellmont Cabinet Company, a family-owned cabinet manufacturer located in Sumner, Washington, dedicated to product innovation, functionality, and timeless yet trend-setting styles. The mission of Bellmont Cabinets is to leave the world a better place, building integrity, respect, and responsibility as stewards of the community and environment.
Bruce Kennedy Ethical Leadership lecture - May 3
Mark your calendars for the Bruce Kennedy Ethical Leadership Lecture at 7 p.m., May 3, in Gwinn Commons at Seattle Pacific University. The lecture features Uli Chi, an award-winning technological entrepreneur, and Brad Tilden, the chairman of the board at Alaska Airlines.