I recently had a conversation with a colleague about an interaction he had with one of his employees. The employee asked him, “Am I going to be replaced by AI?” Imagine how you would feel or respond to that question. His answer struck me. “No, you’re not going to be replaced by AI, but you will be replaced by someone who knows AI.”
We’re living in an interesting world where AI systems have incredible computing power. They can think for us, write for us and answer all our questions. I’ve talked about this before, but I want to remind you to be careful about outsourcing your soul.
The Logic Behind AI
These devices, screens, and computer systems are all based on logic—and specifically, someone else’s logic is what drives their answers. Inside any AI bot or system you talk to, there’s somebody else’s perspective built into it. If you want to try an interesting experiment, share your faith with an AI bot. Chat about the Earth’s origins or whether there’s a God. As you dig through that conversation, you’ll discover the assumptions behind the AI and what’s driving those answers.
The Challenge of Outsourcing Our Thinking
You might ask, “Jeff, does it matter if I ask about something simple, like how to fix a leaky sink?” We’ve been using YouTube for things like that forever. But what I’m really concerned about is when we start outsourcing our thinking about work products, religion, or our personal beliefs.
The challenge is particularly acute for young people today. They’re constantly asking systems how they should feel or what they should think about themselves. These deep, reflective questions are much more challenging for today’s youth than when we were growing up, because these systems are constantly telling them they don’t have enough or they’re missing something, creating a perpetual fear of missing out (FOMO).
The Device Dependency
Let’s talk about our devices. Right now, I’m recording this with my iPhone and camera. It’s incredibly convenient—it locks and unlocks my car, controls my lights and air conditioning, and answers all sorts of questions. It’s like having an outsourced brain, or perhaps a second brain working in tandem with our own.
This reminds me of the concerns math teachers had about calculators when we were young. They worried that using calculators would prevent us from understanding why 2 + 2 equals 4. Today, we face the same problem, but on a much larger scale.
A Spiritual Perspective
These devices are often compared to drugs and cigarettes in terms of their addictive nature, and that’s valid. But I want to offer a different perspective. I believe the Holy Spirit inside us wants to be as central to our daily lives as these devices are. The Holy Spirit wants to guide us, answer our questions, and be part of our ongoing conversation with God.
Our devices go everywhere with us—they’re there when we wake up, in the bathroom, while driving, at the store. The moment we’re separated from them, we feel like something’s missing. They’ve become central to our lives, holding our passwords, banking information, and payment systems. I believe this is the kind of constant presence the Holy Spirit desires to have in our lives.
A Call to Action
I’m not suggesting a Luddite approach—completely rejecting technology. Instead, I’m suggesting we use our relationship with these devices as a mirror to examine our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Can we be as aware of God’s presence as we are of our phones? Can we develop that same sense of missing something when we’re not connected to God?
The challenge I present to you is this: As we discuss body, mind, soul, and spirit, remember that our spiritual growth comes from continuing to read and memorize Scripture. Not out of religious obligation, but as an opportunity to store God’s word in our hearts. When we do this, the Holy Spirit can remind us of these truths and speak to us in real time.
This is a collaborative work, a pursuit of patience, letting Jesus’s words shape our lives while ensuring that what’s most important isn’t whether our device is in our back pocket, but how present we are in hearing, listening to, and pursuing the Holy Spirit.
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In your corner,
Jeff
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