AI: Washington's Warning

September 15, 2025

Author: Dale T. Mason

George Washington Warned Us: Don’t Let AI Forge New Chains of Slavery

America must anchor artificial intelligence in God’s truth—or surrender to Beijing’s godless control.

In the sweltering Virginia heat of July 1774, two plantation owners, George Washington and George Mason, sat at Mount Vernon putting the final touches on what became known as the Fairfax Resolves. The document challenged a long list of British abuses. Buried within was a lightning bolt: Article 17, in which these two slaveholding planters publicly denounced the African slave trade as “wicked, cruel, and unnatural” and demanded its end.

Surprisingly, it was not Virginia’s gentry that struck it down. Instead, the fatal blow came from the British Crown’s hardline commitment to continue the transatlantic slave trade because it was seen as essential to the imperial economy—regardless of moral outrage.

That clash between profit and principle is not dusty history. Today, as China and the United States race to dominate artificial intelligence, America must decide whether to lead the world with freedom—or allow Beijing’s atheistic model of control to set the rules.

Washington’s Break with Slavery

Washington’s personal story is rarely told with honesty. He didn’t simply inherit enslaved people and move on. He wrestled. During his final 25 years, he also:

• Reduced his involvement in buying and selling after the Revolution, and even attempted to sell land so he could permanently free those he was legally able to release.

• Presided over the Constitutional Convention, which secured a “twenty-year clause” that successfully ended America’s transatlantic slave trade.

• Ordered in his will that all 123 enslaved people he personally owned would be freed—with education for children and permanent support for the elderly or infirm after Martha’s death.

For the post-revolution George Washington, the enslaved were not statistics. Increasingly throughout his life, especially after America’s War for Independence, he viewed them as people with family ties andpersonal lives—people for whom he was responsible. As a self-described Christian, his conscience was increasingly shaped by the Bible and encouraged him to act, sometimes even against economic self-interest. That’s leadership worth remembering—and the kind of courage America’s leaders must show now if we want to remain the world’s standard-bearer of liberty.

The New Chains of AI

The global AI race pits two civilizations with starkly different worldviews:

• China, shaped by its atheistic worldview and ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, denies God and treats even basic, God-given human rights as Party-issued privileges. AI there is about control—surveillance, censorship, digital obedience.

• The United States, shaped by its Judeo-Christian heritage, was built on the conviction that human dignity is Bible-based—mankind is created in the image of God. That truth supplied the moral foundation for freedom.

The danger is that even in the U.S., AI is being driven more by profit than principle. Without grounding in God’s image, AI will reduce people to data points, nothing more than animals and disposable labor units—while destroying jobs and communities, just as the British Crown reduced Africans to animal cargo unworthy of human dignity. That is the new slavery: subtle, controlling, and every bit as dehumanizing.

Washington’s AI Lessons

Washington’s fight against the slave system gives us principles we cannot afford to ignore:

1. Moral Purpose and Biblical Boundaries – Like the Fairfax Resolves, AI governance must include binding commitments, and it must be rooted in God’s design for human dignity.

2. Checked Power and Protection of the Vulnerable – AI must require checks and balances across governments, corporations, and civil society, while safeguarding workers, children, and the digitally unprepared.

3. Freedom-First Economics – Ethical AI must reward innovation that protects freedom, while abuse must be punished with real costs.

The Biblical Blueprint

In The Forgotten George Washington Bible, I show how Washington repeatedly turned to Scripture and the Bible-based counsel of Christian leaders for direction. He prayed and read the Bible almost daily. He quoted Micah 4:4—about people living in peace—nearly fifty times. And just one page later, Micah 6:8 gives the foundation we need today: “To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”

For AI, that’s not theory—it’s a blueprint for a country that still calls itself “one nation under God.” Acting justly means designing tools that serve rather than exploit. Loving mercy means protecting the weak, not preying on them. Walking humbly means remembering that technology is not ultimate—and human wisdom alone is not enough.

America’s Choice on AI

The U.S. has a brief window to anchor AI in the truth that every human bears God’s image. Even First Lady Melania Trump—after hosting the White House’s “Age of AI” education challenge on September 4—reminded us that AI will shape the world our children inherit. If we yield to economic and political pressures, we will repeat the past. We will allow two new kings, profit and power, to claim supremacy over the biblical truth that God alone defines human worth.

And let’s be blunt, the assassination of Charlie Kirk just days ago is a tragic reminder of why this fight matters. Kirk spent his life defending the truth that every person—born or unborn, young or old—bears God’s image and is therefore priceless. Silencing that truth doesn’t erase it. It makes proclaiming it all the more urgent.

Washington and Mason lost their Article 17 resolution in 1774, but their Bible-based principles planted the seeds of freedom. If today’s leaders fail to apply image-of-God principles to AI, we will watch as unlimited technology quickly forges new chains. But if today’s leaders succeed, AI will become what it must be: a tool, under God, to serve humanity in the way He designed.

The choice is before us—and as Washington knew, history will record whether we stood for liberty, under God, or surrendered to an aggressive new form of enslavement.

Dale T. Mason is an 8th-generation nephew of President Washington. He is founding publisher of two award-winning magazines, author of The 10 Minute Bible Journey, and most recently The Forgotten George Washington Bible. He resides in Old Virginia (Kentucky). See more at GeorgeWashingtonBible.com and DaleMason.com.

Dale Mason, author/researcher "The Forgotten George Washington Bible"

GEORGE WASHINGTON WARNED US:

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