A timely Christian reflection on Artificial Intelligence's promises and perils, urging discernment amid rising transhumanism, deception, and prophetic parallels drawn from Scripture and contemporary thinkers.
This is my fifth in a series, highlighting key aspects from each chapter of my new book, While We Were Sleeping: A Wake-up Call For All Christians (2025). (Check out my YouTube channel, where I am posting a weekly reflection on each chapter, to complement this post.)
Akos Balogh, one-time CEO of The Gospel Coalition Australia, kicks off this chapter. More recently, he returned to Moore Theological College, where he worked as the External Engagement Manager. Today, he is a blogger, researcher, and ghost writer.
Akos sets the stage for our consideration of AI with this great scenario. He asks us to examine the impact on the user of a bicycle and a car as a means of transport. Both efficiently transport the user from A to B. Yes, the car will normally take the user much further and faster than the bicycle, but, with regular use, the cyclist will become a healthy, fit, lean muscle machine, while the driver will most likely become unfit, lacking muscle tone, and overweight.
Our use of AI shapes us. As Christians, we need to use 'disciplined discernment' to understand how we are being shaped, limiting as far as we can any negative aspects while making the most of the positives.
Many of us are super excited about AI; we avidly explore as much information as we can about AI, and we are quick to download the latest software to try it ourselves. However, it has been said that AI may well eclipse the Industrial Revolution by its pace of rollout and its impact on the human race (Driscoll). It certainly seems set to have the potential for greater disruption than the advent of the internet or the impact of the atomic bomb.
Any consideration of AI would be too narrow if it did not consider the potential of the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) quest to build systems, which some believe will surpass human intelligence. And the dream of some for Transhumanism, which describes the idea of taking existing human beings, and enhancing them with implants, bioengineering and drugs, rendering the incorporated technologies cyborgs, a combination of cybernetics and biology.
This sounds like a resurgence of eugenics. Francis Galton coined the term eugenics in 1883 to describe his science of human improvement. The Nazi regime's racial hygiene policies were arguably the most extreme form of eugenics, which included forced sterilisation, euthanasia and human experiments in concentration camps during World War II.
Eugenics was based on the incorrect belief that most human activity, whether physical or mental, was determined by heredity. Therefore, if heredity could be controlled, the eugenicists believed they could improve future generations and the survival of the species. Their world without God.
Having our eyes open to the future of AI is essential, while acknowledging the present realities of AI can't be ignored.
Social manipulation, through AI algorithms, is already a reality that governments rely on to ensure their narrative takes root. This can be called propaganda. Thomas quotes the story of Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who used trolls to garner young Filipino votes in their 2022 election. If we know it is happening, we might be able to push back. If this is true now, what hope do we have against AI in the future, especially if we are inherently less intelligent than AI?
Deepfake videos abound; some purport to be of our politicians. When they become more sophisticated, will we be able to pick the fake? Even if some of us can spot the fake, those who don't have the time or interest to dive deep enough to check them out will be duped. We already have a politically unstable world; isn't AI more likely to tip us into anarchy?
AI algorithms are already trading on stock exchanges around the world at speeds impossible for human traders to match, but they don't respond to human trust and fear. Further, if the human investor sees the AI selling off thousands of trades, they could be scared into doing the same thing, triggering an unnecessary financial meltdown.
We might be excited about the good from AI, or we might be paralysed by fear of calamity. We don't know the future, but God does. I don't believe He has ever been worried by AI, as He has always known 'the end from the beginning' (Isaiah 46:10). Therefore, it seems to me scripture might give us a benchmark from which to construct our response to AI.
John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University (Emeritus), an internationally renowned speaker, has written a book entitled 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity.
He writes about deception (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12) and the works of Satan in our world. Can we be sure that we are alert to the possibility of delusion? When was the last time you heard a sermon that unpacked deception?
In contrast to transhumanism's dream to become a god, two thousand years ago, God became man. Why do we ignore what He has already done? God becoming human was His invitation to us to defeat death once and for all. Jesus promises eternal life, and it begins right now. Transhumanism's vision bypasses the problem of evil. Man has already attempted this, with the Nazi program of eugenics and the Soviet dream. They both led to rivers of blood.
Wearing our Christian faith firmly on our sleeves, we can never confuse AI with God's creation. God has set eternity in our hearts, as we are made in His image.
It seems to me that a lot of needless debate could be avoided if AI researchers would admit that there are fundamental differences between machine intelligence and human intelligence -- differences that cannot be overcome by any amount of research. (Joseph Macrae Mellichamp, 1985)
Consider John Lennox' take on all this. He quotes at length from the book of Revelation (my emphasis):
And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marvelled and followed the beast. So, they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?'
And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:1-8)
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:11-17)
With this scripture as his backdrop, Lennox describes the Omega Project as depicted in Max Tegmark's book Life 3.0. Here, a leader is foreshadowed who will rule over the entire world with their global government that will control the global economy.
Under their authority, everyone will be required to wear a security bracelet that will monitor their health, their location and every conversation. Without this bracelet, it will be impossible to buy or sell, and anyone who attempts to remove or disable their device will receive a lethal injection into their forearm. The parallels with the vision in Revelation are profound.
How do we respond? Perhaps, we might describe Lennox's take as a far-fetched fantasy, as the book of Revelation should not be taken literally -- it is merely an allegory.
However, I suggest that the parallels with the advent of AI are too close to be ignored. I, for one, do not want to be controlled by a social credit system like China's.