Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Technology and Religion
Thinking about Protocol Droids

Thinking about Protocol Droids

Last updated on: July 19, 2026 at 4:43 pm by James F. McGrath

0 Comments

Thinking about Protocol Droids 2026-07-19T16:43:45-04:00 James F. McGrath

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I have been thinking about protocol droids a lot lately. Why? It is not just because I am a Star Wars nerd. That would be a sufficient explanation for why I would be thinking about protocol droids, but not why I have been thinking about protocol droids as much and as often as I have been lately.

For those who do not get the reference, C3PO in Star Wars is a protocol droid. The reason for my recent surge in interest is that I was invited to speak as a panelist at an event in Indianapolis, the 25th Annual International Protocol Education Forum. This year’s theme is “Precision & Pace: Navigating Protocol and Diplomacy in a Fast-Moving World.” I and a colleague (Ankur Gupta, with whom I do a lot on this topic) were invited to speak about AI.

Here is the information about our session:

Plenary: Trust, Judgement, and Power: Ethical Use of Generative AI in Diplomatic Practice

Generative artificial intelligence is transforming professional practice, offering powerful efficiencies while raising complex ethical challenges – particularly in protocol and diplomatic contexts where trust, discretion, and cultural sensitivity are paramount. This plenary examines the responsible use of generative AI through a protocol and diplomatic ethics lens, focusing on where technology can appropriately support professional work and where human judgement must remain central. Participants will explore key ethical considerations – including bias, cultural representation, data privacy, transparency, and accountability – and gain a practical framework to guide policy, leadership decisions, and institutional practice. Attendees will leave with shared principals and critical questions to ensure AI adoption strengthens, rather than compromises, diplomatic credibility and trust.

I have never served as a diplomat, but having lived in a number of different countries and regions over the years, I can combine that cross-cultural experience with my understanding of and engagement with AI to share things that will hopefully be useful to this audience.

Can you see now why C3PO has been on my mind? In the present day there are protocol officers. The short term question for them is whether and when the use of AI might benefit them, and what its limitations and pitfalls are. The longer term question is whether their role can potentially be automated.

The short answer to that latter question is that one cannot safely trust an LLM chatbot’s output to guide one in matters of protocol. A very recent article about cultural bias in chatbot outputs put it this way:

Our findings suggest that generative AI centers moral values in ways that are not consistent with those outside the Western world. This systematic inaccuracy, which scholar Jesse Graham and his team refer to as “moral stereotyping,” could lead to critical cultural missteps with real-world consequences.

For instance, imagine users asking for advice on interpersonal conflicts or looking for feedback on work collaboration with international partners. In such situations, AI models may give advice or offer language that reflects mainly Western values while overlooking those that are most important in other cultures. This could perpetuate cultural biases or lead to conclusions that are not aligned with the perspectives of those from non-Western backgrounds.

This is not surprising. The majority of English language content online was created by people in the United States, followed (I’m not sure in what order) by the UK, Australia, Ireland, and others. The places where English is the predominant language do not share all cultural values and customs in common, but there are things that are true of both the US and the UK that would differentiate them together from cultures around the Mediterranean, or from Japan.

LLMs imitate human speech, and the texts they were trained on reflect a subset of human cultural values. Because of how they function, even if you ask about polite address in the Congo, the output will be likely to veer towards general patterns of word association. If you ask about a culture that few people if any have discussed in texts that were used as training data, you may get a confident yet fabricated (“hallucinated”) answer, offered confidently. The fact that you are asking in English (or any other language) also impacts the output.

This is not to suggest that LLM chatbots are useless for those working in protocol. Not at all. When asked to provide links to relevant content, there is a reasonable chance that, because of the way they engage with patterns of language, you will get more relevant links than might appear at the top of your Google search. You can also use NotebookLM to summarize information that you give it about culture, customs, history, titles, and other such topics. It is not guaranteed to be accurate, but if you tried to skim a long text when you did not have time to properly digest it, you would likely also come away with inaccuracies. If you are on the go and need to listen with your ears rather than read with your eyes, the NotebookLM function of generating a podcast may be what you need. Other tools like Speechify can also be helpful. AI is much more than chatbots.

For all these reasons, as I have been thinking about protocol droids, my sense is that they are not going to become a reality in the near future if ever. More importantly, they shouldn’t be made and offered as a replacement for human diplomats and their advisors. To the extent that AI is useful to those working in protocol, having C3PO waddle along behind you will be less useful than interacting with a chatbot through a more portable machine.

There are other topics that relate to this that we cannot explore here. For instance, we are told that in the Star Wars universe droids cannot think, which is also true of today’s chatbots. Yet C3PO says it is their lot to suffer, and L3-37 desired freedom for itself and others. There is an inconsistency, and we cannot resolve it here. For more on the broader topic of machines, personhood, and religion, see my chapter “Robots, Rights, and Religion” in Religion and Science Fiction (currently on sale at a great price) and Coleen Etman’s “The Droids You’re Looking For: On Servitude and Sentience in Star Wars” in Popular Culture Studies Journal.

Religion and Science Fiction Reading List

Robotic Religion

Technology and Religion

artificial intelligence

Star Wars

artificial intelligence

Previous Post

July 15, 2026

What Paul Knew About Jesus

Next Post

July 28, 2026 AGI Has Not Arrived, and No Tech Company Wants It To

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"And to you!"

James F. McGrath

Make Evangelicalism Christian Again

"Thank You, I identify as "strange" wink, wink! Anyway, at this point we're not going ..."

Burke S

Make Evangelicalism Christian Again

"You are such a strange individual and so difficult to have a conversation with. You ..."

James F. McGrath

Make Evangelicalism Christian Again

"What you're suggesting citing these "rabbinical" interpretations you're favoring are just that - interpretations. There ..."

Burke S

Make Evangelicalism Christian Again

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz