Why AI Pornography Is Far More Dangerous than Yesterday’s Porn

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Artificial Intelligence is well on its way to becoming a trillion-dollar industry and has been disrupting sectors from agriculture to finance across the world. The pornography industry is no exception. Sophisticated AI engines can use text prompts to create realistic, fully animated scenes in minutes, and that technology is being used to generate terabytes of new pornography. Deepfake technology can change one person’s face to another or even digitally take the clothes off of a person.[1] Several new companies are using AI to manufacture personalized sex toys. The list goes on.

1. I intentionally refrain from citing specific names, websites, and sources throughout this article because of the especially explicit nature of these topics.

For Christians, these dizzying changes simply add dimensions to an industry we already recognize as depraved. However, others argue that there are some ethical upsides to AI porn: more computer-generated people mean fewer real ones in an industry fraught with abuse.[2] Even Christians may be tempted to think, “If there’s no person on the other side of the screen, is it really sinful?” I will offer two arguments for why AI porn is every bit as sinful as yesterday’s porn and far more dangerous. But before giving these reasons, allow me to offer a brief theology of sex to show why pornography is such a distortion of God’s good design.

2. In an online article, “Dreampen” the moniker for the individual who hosts an AI porn website claims that “his ultimate goal with the site is to fully ‘end human exploitation’ in the adult industry.”

Genesis 101: God’s Design for Sex

The consequentialist ethic asks, “Who does it hurt?” The biblical ethic asks, “What is it for?” The main New Testament texts that speak to sexual ethics are consistently grounded in God’s creational design (Matt. 19:3–12, 1 Cor. 6:12–20, Eph. 5:29–32, 1 Tim. 2:11–14, 1 Cor. 11:7–12), and if Christians want to mount a vigorous critique of pornography, we must develop a robust biblical theology of sex. As we follow the biblical authors in anchoring our theology in the first two chapters of Genesis, we can construct an ethical framework to understand AI pornography. God designed sex for Covenant unity, procreation, and expression of love.[3]

3. With these three purposes for sex, I draw heavily from the list of designs put forward by Andreas J. Köstenberger, Denny Burk, and Daniel Heimbach in their respective works. Andreas J. Köstenberger, and David W Jones, God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation, 2nd ed., (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 80–82; Denny Burk, What Is the Meaning of Sex, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 34–39; Daniel R. Heimbach, True Sexual Morality: Recovering Biblical Standards for a Culture in Crisis, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004), 156.

Covenantal Unity

God designed sex for covenantal unity between husband and wife, a unity that is emotional, spiritual, and sexual—the two “shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). God intended the covenant of marriage to image the even greater New Covenant he established with his people, which is why Paul severely reprimands members of the church in Corinth for sleeping with prostitutes. He tells them, “Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh’[Gen. 2:24]. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him” (1 Cor. 6:16–17). Sex is crucial to covenantal unity. Paul makes this point again in his letter to Ephesus when he shows how the husband and wife relationship is a picture of the unity between Christ and the church (Eph. 5:25–33). In both chapters Paul quotes Genesis 2:24, because his inspired understanding of biblical sexuality is grounded in the pre-fall creational design.

Porn mocks covenantal unity by allowing users to voyeur through endless images till one meets their fantasy. Porn recoils from relational commitment in marriage, which takes genuine effort, understanding, compassion, and empathy. Instead, porn offers an easy and unholy union that only lasts as long as a computer tab stays open. While the beautiful union of husband and wife naturally leads to new life, porn has no thought for the next generation.

Procreation

God designed sex for procreation. He told our first parents, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). The sexual revolution and the ubiquity of birth control have elevated a shallow “love” to the highest ideal in sex, resulting in a cultural amnesia to the fact that sex makes babies.[4] Procreation is not incidental but core to the very purpose of sex. The Bible consistently proclaims children to be a blessing from the Lord. (Deut. 28:4; Prov. 17:6; Ruth 4:11; Pss. 127:3–5; 128:3-4). One of the reasons God hates infidelity is because sex inside a covenantal marriage is supposed to lead to children (Mal. 2:15).

4. To understand the broader cultural effects of contraceptives, I highly recommend Mary Eberstadt’s book, Adam and Eve after the Pill, Revisited, (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2023). My purpose here is not to comment on the morality of birth control per se, but merely to point out how widespread legal contraceptives have contributed to a cultural decoupling of sexuality and procreation.

Procreation provides the logical basis for nearly every sexual prohibition in the bible. Monogamy and exclusivity are crucial because of the teamwork needed to raise children to adulthood.[5] Homosexuality is contrary to nature (Rom. 1:26–27) precisely because it violates God’s design for two complementary men and women to create children—men and women are necessarily complementary.[6] Biblical prohibitions against bestiality and pedophilia are grounded in this logic.[7] When Christians give in to this cultural indifference towards sexuality and children, we undercut the coherence of God’s design.

5. This is the ideal, and it does not undermine the faithful work of many single parents in raising their children well.

6. John Jefferson Davis, Evangelical Ethics: Issues Facing the Church Today, Fourth ed. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2015), 115.

7. Heimbach, True Sexual Morality, 188–189, 194.

How does porn relate to childbearing? It doesn’t. Porn strips sex of the vibrant potential for children and celebrates consequence-free indulgence. Porn wants nothing to do with the grand mandate to be fruitful and multiply, nothing to do with vibrant homes, and nothing to do with shepherding young hearts to love God. Porn wants sex cheap, easy, and meaningless.

An Expression of Romantic Love

Finally, the third purpose for sex is as an expression of love. The Song of Songs reverberates this theme. Three times the Hebrew word “love” in this book is a direct analogy for sexual union (Song 2:7, 3:5, 8:4). Unsurprisingly, much of this book borrows imagery and themes from the Garden as if the intimacy our first parents experienced in paradise can be re-captured with romantic love.[8] Sex within marriage is an embodied expression of a couple’s love and cultivates a unique intimacy that no other relationship can offer.

8. See the similarities and inversions of desire in Gen 3:16 and Song 7:10, nakedness without shame in Gen 2:25 and Song 5:3 and 7:1-9, and the abundance of garden imagery in Song 4:12-16, 5:1, 6:2, 8:13.

In stark contrast, porn turns the pleasure God offers husbands and wives into a cheap high utterly divorced from love, commitment, and joy. Porn gives no flowers, no quiet moments, no laughter. Porn uses the other person for a quick dopamine kick and corrupts God’s design for sex and marriage at every turn.

Why AI Pornography is Far More Dangerous

Covenant unity, procreation, and expression of love constitute the core of God’s design for sex. These purposes are rooted in the first two chapters of Genesis and clarified and affirmed by biblical authors throughout the canon of the Bible. All forms of pornography are militantly opposed to God’s design. All forms of porn are deeply sinful. However, AI porn ratchets the damage of sexual sin to an entirely new level.

Practice Makes You Perfect

Pornography uniquely molds the user’s sexual desires, expectations, and norms to the point that they no longer experience wholesome attraction. In contrast with faithful devotion to the needs and desires of a spouse, pornography trains the user’s mind and body to experience sex on demand, for any reason, at any time. Those who think that AI porn may have “ethical advantages” fail to see that what we do shapes who we become.

Pornography has always been addictive.[9] However, the new frontier will take addiction to a degree we have never seen. AI porn trains the user to experience sexual desire, not even as something they choose, but as something they create. Never before have humans been able to minutely sculpt their sexual tastes at the whim of a keyboard. This goes far beyond mere video. A myriad of apps offers sophisticated AI conversational models that give lonely users a relationship with a pixel model: a perfect companion who is patient, kind, bears all things, believes all things, and doesn’t expect any of the same virtue in return.

9. See the horrifying accounts of porn addiction in Gary Wilson, Your Brain on Porn, (Margate, England: Commonwealth Publishing, 2014).

The great sin of Babel was that they wanted to be like God. While the ancients made a tower to climb to heaven, the modern man descends into his basement and plays the creator as he fashions a pseudo-helper to sedate his lust. God perfectly formed a mate for Adam, who was to be his equal complement. AI pornography allows us the deluded power to build a mate who becomes a sex slave, a hollow echo of God’s design.

Practice makes perfect. The person who trains their affections and sexual appetite with the facade of AI sex will find themselves unable to love real humans. AI porn strips all our beautiful imperfections before they ever have the chance to become endearing and replaces them with an ever-customizable idol. The old generation, hooked on the hyper-stimulus of pornography, struggled with erectile dysfunction and libido drops, leading to difficulty in relationships. But they still wanted relationships. This generation is cultivating an unparalleled narcissism: playing god for the sake of an orgasm.

The Slippery Slope is Real

Gone are the days when perversion was limited by a camera and actors. Gone are the days when it would take an animation studio months to create porn. AI has democratized depravity so that anyone with a couple of dollars and an internet connection can chase their every sexual whim. The next several years will open the door to perversion on a scale never before seen in human history.

AI-deepfake technology can replace the faces of porn actors with celebrities, models, or even next-door neighbors, creating sexual scenes with people who have never met in real life. A recent study found that 98% of all deepfakes that have ever been generated are pornographic. AI can manufacture abusive porn scenes that move far beyond what could be legal for actors to create. This kind of abuse is just a couple of prompt words away. AI can fabricate characters that blend human, animal, and robotic attributes to create new beings for the porn user who has grown bored.

The danger will not stop at trans-human fetishes. AI pornography has opened the door for some to advocate the so-called “ethical” use of AI-created child pornography. Danielle Bernstein, a writer for WIRED, summarizes several advocates who argue, “AI-generated images can be used to rehabilitate certain pedophiles by allowing them to gain the sexual catharsis they would otherwise get from watching child pornography from generated images instead.” However, sin will not stay on a screen and sin cannot cure sin. This type of pornography will only lead to more child abuse at the bottom of the slope.

Conclusion

As sexual perversion and sexual “therapies” continue to become further unhinged from reality, where does this leave us? We can see what AI porn really offers: a vapid enterprise that reduces sex to a dopamine binge and cultivates a list of vices that should make us shudder. What does the Bible offer? We have a vision of faithful marriages, joy that comes from decades of love, and the incredible gift of children. Millions of years of man-made technological advances cannot improve what God has already designed. Honoring His will for our lives in this area looks forward to a day when God will remake the Garden, where Christ will be fully united with his church, and the last remnants of pornography will be cast into the fire where it belongs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author

  • Jacob Valk

    Jacob Valk has worked various roles in advertising/film in Toronto for five years. He has a degree in Advertising from Mohawk College and a B.A. in Humanities from Brock University. He co-produced the documentaries Ordinary Commission and Into The Light and runs the podcast Chats Under The Sun. He is working on an M.Div. at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he lives and works at the ReCenter homeless shelter. Jacob is a member of Immanuel Baptist Church, Louisville, KY.

Picture of Jacob Valk

Jacob Valk

Jacob Valk has worked various roles in advertising/film in Toronto for five years. He has a degree in Advertising from Mohawk College and a B.A. in Humanities from Brock University. He co-produced the documentaries Ordinary Commission and Into The Light and runs the podcast Chats Under The Sun. He is working on an M.Div. at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he lives and works at the ReCenter homeless shelter. Jacob is a member of Immanuel Baptist Church, Louisville, KY.