“For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”
Luke 21:15
I saw a meme recently which said “Give yourself a point for everything you’ve done on this list.” There were things like “use a corded phone,” “rent a video from Blockbuster,” and “look up something in the yellow pages.” Of the twenty things on the list, I had done all twenty, and my son, who right now is 19, had done none of them. That shows two things—I am old, and the world has changed since I was young.
In the 1980s, one of my favorite TV shows was called “Nightrider,” starring David Hasselhoff. He had this car, which he called “Kitt,” that could do these amazing things. And Michael Knight (Hasselhoff’s character) could talk to his watch and get Kitt to self-drive. It was entertaining, even though we thought these abilities were somewhat ridiculous. Who would have thought that now we can talk to phones on our wrists and have self-driving cars.
Society has advanced in so many ways that are good. A phone that fits in your hand and is mobile is certainly a better tool for looking up phone numbers than a heavy phonebook you can’t carry around. Where would we be without the internet, or texting or email. How nice to not have to wait around somewhere for a phone call.
But there is a downside to all this. One can’t take a day off from the phone and go someplace. It used to be that people would call and leave a message; assume one was out for the day and hope for a call in a day or two. Now people expect every call answered. There is so much information available on the phone that when we are bored, and even when we are not, we grab the phone and start scrolling. When I was a student doing my homework, I never got interrupted by a text message, never had the inkling to stop my work and check sports scores (those wouldn’t be available until the six-o-clock news), was never tempted to impulse buy on Amazon. Now it is hard to stay focused, we get impatient when people don’t return calls, and we feel totally lost without a phone. “Life-360” tells us where our children are at all times, a far cry from when we were kids and went out and heard our parents say “just come home by the time it’s dark.”
Technology has improved so much in the world, from medical advances to engineering possibilities. We live longer and more comfortably. But AI (artificial intelligence), while allowing us to access information quicker than we can think about it ourselves, is starting to put people out of jobs, stifle our creativity, and even create fake relationships. One can interact with AI, type in problems, and carry on a conversation like one would have with a therapist or a counselor, except it is with a computer and not a person.
We all use AI to one degree or another, to “google something” is basically AI. AI can be a healthy tool to compliment our intelligence, not replace it. Putting a limit on AI is like trying to get toothpaste back into the tube. AI is here to stay, the question is how we manage it.
Jesus said in Luke 21:15, “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.” Jesus was saying this in reference to forthcoming persecutions which would cause anxiety to His followers. How would they be able to stand in the face of opposition, having limited knowledge of their new-found faith. Jesus told them not to worry about that. Later when the Holy Spirit had been sent down on them, they realized that the grace of the Holy Spirit could fill in the empty and blank spaces.
Not only is AI replacing our creativity, but it is also going to mess with our confidence, and potentially our relationship with the Lord. Who needs faith in anything, God or oneself, if AI is there to fill in the empty spaces?
I use AI. I use the internet to help search out Bible verses on Bible gateway, an app I have used since the beginning of the Prayer Team in 2015. I do not filter any of these messages through AI. The thoughts expressed here come from the Bible, and from careful planning and research. The mistakes are mine as well. AI does make some of my work easier. In fact, I don’t know where I would be without a computer or google or Bible gateway. This is the way the world works now. We would be short-sighted not to use some of the technology available to us. However, before there was AI, or cell phones, or google, there are the words of Jesus Christ, the words that we are to put our faith in, and those words include leaning in on God when we have empty spaces. We are supposed to serve and love one another. We are also supposed to be served and loved by others. When we let the computer serve as our therapist, or in some cases, even as our friend, we are not following the commandments to love God (lean in on Him to fill empty spaces), or to love our neighbor (or let our neighbor love us). AI is here to stay. As I said, I use it. How we use it and the long-term effects of using it are not known. Other than quotes, I am proud to say I write every word of the Prayer Team. I use the internet to research what I write, but what is written are my words. And I don’t plan on ever changing that.
The phones are tools, but they are also distractions. Most of us waste a lot of time on technology. If we added up all the time we spend needlessly looking at our technology, imagine how we could improve relationships, marriages, our own health, and our relationship with God. The phones are important tools and are also here to stay. Managing how we use them will be a challenge. Same thing with AI. AI cannot replace loving relationships, it cannot feel empathy or compassion or anything else, AI cannot sacrifice for us, or love us. We can utilize AI but we can’t love it in the way we love other people. If our time is limited, and if our hearts go to where our treasure (in this came time) leads, then we need to make sure we are leading with things that are real, and using things that are artificial in an ancillary way, not in the leading role in our lives.
Lord, thank You for the gift of technology and the creative minds that have created it. Help all of us, starting with me, to use technology in ways that are appropriate. Help us to maintain appropriate relationships, to use our own creativity, and not to neglect our talents and our relationships by using artificial intelligence to replace our God-given intelligence. Amen.
Years ago, we did not have the conveniences and the challenges of technology the way we do now. We must learn to use the conveniences appropriately and to meet the challenges that new technology has brought us.
