Trends in AI: How should Christians Respond?

Being a trained data scientist, I have taken an interest in the development of AI since GPT4, specifically, deep learning large language models (LLMs). Modern LLMs pass the Turing Test, and there are debates over whether LLMs possess a degree of self-awareness. Initially, I was interested in the discussions of science fiction-sounding words like “meta-cognition.” However, as time went on, I became interested in AI more broadly as I saw it affect daily life. No longer is AI only good for making emails sound like Edgar Allen Poe.

Below, I would like to discuss some findings from my readings on the social and economic impacts that AI is currently having and may have in the future.

Social

Soon after the advent of the internet, researchers began studying a growing societal shift called “networked individualism.” With the advent of AI systems that can socially interact with people, a new term has been introduced to capture a new shift: AI individualism (quotes below are from this paper).

AI individualism extends networked individualism by adding AI into a person’s social network as a viable option for socializing. This is not just a tool anymore. This refers to using AI systems “as coworker… therapist… coach… friend, or romantic partner…”

In other words, sociality will be increasingly more online-focused, and for some, it is already more emphasized than an in-person social life. As the trends of addiction to the internet progress, “social structures could become more fragmented, with individuals connected to a small sample of social AI agents tailored to personal needs rather than a cohesive community.” 

Since God created man with physical limitations, we have to be judicious in how we spend our time. What percentage of our social situations do we want to be AI interactions?

There was a study on the brain when it interacted with ChatGPT compared to using search engines and using no technology. Unsurprisingly, people who did not use LLMs or search engines to write an essay had “stronger memory, greater semantic accuracy, and firmer ownership of written work.” Meanwhile, with the use of LLMs, the authors warn: “If users rely heavily on AI tools, they may achieve superficial fluency but fail to internalize the knowledge or feel a sense of ownership over it.”

Do not settle for having a “superficial fluency” in your studies. Pause, put the phone down, read books and in-depth articles, take notes, and then write about it. In the coming years, Christians will have a greater opportunity to lead in American society if they choose to think for themselves. This includes not allowing our thinking to be outsourced to human (AI one day?) podcasters.

Economic

I am concerned that AI could automate parts of the labor force, which would disrupt employment, specifically, my employment. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, in an essay he wrote titled “The Adolescence of Technology,” has a “prediction for 50% of entry-level white collar jobs being disrupted” in the next 5 years.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs over the last year wrote that there was “a modest net drag on labor markets,” which raised unemployment by 0.1 percentage point. We are potentially in the beginning phases of AI impacting the labor market. Although (take this with a grain of salt) the WEF predicts that AI will create 170 million new jobs and only displace 92 million.

I am doubtful that AI will overcome God’s curse on the earth. Labor will still exist for us in some form.

Instead, we ought to assess our careers and, particularly for white-collar professions, try our best to upskill – incorporating AI where applicable and available (make sure your cybersecurity team gives the green light on using it). At worst, this will prolong an inevitable AI takeover of the labor force. The more you can use AI, the longer you will be kept on. People who fall behind in the AI age have a higher likelihood of being outsourced first.

On the other hand, AI may simply become another ubiquitous tool like computers without causing significant economic strife. But from what I have been reading and experiencing, I find this to be less likely. AI mimics humans enough to be a substitute for a portion of white-collar labor, and corporations are perpetually seeking to save money on labor costs.

As for blue-collar work, I am not convinced that AI will have as meaningful an impact. For factory workers, AI may have an impact due to the environmental control that a company can implement in a factory, although lthough factories have been incorporating robots for decades already.

To replace a blue-collar worker in a non-factory, non-computer setting would be very difficult, as there would need to be an AI-controlled robot functioning in a dynamic environment. This has been incredibly challenging to create thus far. It is advancing, but slowly compared to AI in computer-oriented jobs.

For business owners, there will be a strong pull to utilize AI for efficiencies. It will be up to your judgment, based on a myriad of factors, whether you think the risk and cost are worth it. Eventually, if AI continues to grow in intelligence and affordability, using it will make sense – if not already.

There is also the possibility that something different will happen. As Amodei points out in his essay titled Machines of Loving Grace, there may be an entirely new job market that forms. “As long as AI is only better at 90% of a given job, the other 10% will cause humans to become highly leveraged, increasing compensation and in fact creating a bunch of new human jobs complementing and amplifying what AI is good at, such that the ‘10%’ expands to continue to employ almost everyone.”

Amodei is operating under the assumption that we will have superintelligence in the next few years, which he defines as a “country of geniuses in a datacenter” that can act autonomously to accomplish tasks in any given field. If this does not happen in the way he predicts, then there would be a less significant impact on the job market.

Other Applications

First, as a rule of thumb, do not let AI think for you, write for you, or generate content for you. As a caveat, there are applications in the workforce where you may need to use AI to stay competitive. It is not sinful to have AI work for you in every context. For example, it is not necessarily wrong to have it generate executive summaries or help with wording for an employee performance review. However, keep in mind that you may lose some skill in the abilities you are outsourcing to AI.

Also, AI hallucinates frequently. I have had it give me book lists with books that do not exist upon further inspection. Make sure you verify whatever it is saying to you at a deep level. If you verify it only at a shallow level (i.e., just ensuring the links are not links to Reddit posts), it may appear to be correct but still be wrong. Even something simple, such as counting, you should either do it yourself or look up a vetted source for it.

Second, the internet is more untrustworthy than ever before. Find trusted sources with institutional credibility or some other form of meaningful accountability. Otherwise, you will never be able to trust what you read or see on the internet, because the people who are talking at you on social media are not held accountable.

Third, consider getting off of, or severely limiting, social media. Are your online interactions actually constructive? Is your screen time on your phone 8+ hours each day? Could you be using that time to interact face-to-face with your family, friends, neighbors, or coworkers?

Fourth, ground yourself in the truth, and do not be swayed by every wind of doctrine. There is a lot of doctrine and internet polarization happening in Christian circles, especially, as it seems to me, among young men. Let your Bible, pastor, wise men within your church, and the heroes of the faith shape your doctrine, not a virtual, impersonal pastor or – God forbid – an AI pastor.

Fifth, pray for wisdom during this change we are undergoing. James 1:5 (LSB) “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” 

If the world feels like it is falling apart, AI is running amok, and you cannot tell the difference between man and machine, God is still there. God will continue to be there forever.

AI usage notice: I used Microsoft Copilot as a search engine for finding different papers and articles that I then read and synthesized by taking notes. Throughout this paper, I referenced those notes and provided quotations from my notes. Also, no AI system has been given the contents of this article for things like grammatical fixes or other ways of sprucing up the language.