Artificial Intelligence and The Church

Scripture gives us no reason to think that chatbot AI has any more of a connection with the spiritual world than any other non-living object in creation. Scripture does teach that departed spirits cannot return to interact with this world without God’s say so (see Lk 16:19-31 for instance).

But demons can exploit physical tools to influence people, for instance with ouija boards. People can intentionally try to use AI as a way of interacting with the spiritual world, similar to a ouija board, which dangerously invites demonic activity. Chatbots can also present demons with particular opportunities with which to try to influence people, even if uninvited, since people do often open themselves up to influence through these tools. We should be on guard, while recognizing that Jesus has conquered Satan and we as Christians have nothing to fear.

God can use chatbots for His purposes too, just as with anything else in creation. He is Lord of all. But we should not look to chatbots for anything spiritual. That is not where God has promised to make His name known. If you think you encounter something spiritual of this sort in a chatbot, step away. Seek God in His Word and within His church where His Spirit truly dwells. Give no opportunity to the devil, who masquerades as an angel of light. Resist him in Christ, and he will flee from you.

This is happening already. An official “church” called “Way of the Future” dedicated to the worship of AI was founded in 2017 (Wikipedia link). There continue to be other reports, though most are still fringe events for now, of people claiming to find God in their LLM AI. There are also AI apps already that pretend to let people “talk” to Hindu deities as well as to religious teachers (BBC article).

Of more grave concern, it seems inevitable that, at some point, someone will take an AI trained on Scripture and proclaim that it is a way to talk directly to the true I AM whom Christians worship, or specifically to the Son, Jesus Christ. This has not yet gained public traction, but once it does, it is also only a matter of time before some group claims that a Jesus-imitating chatbot actually represents the promised return of Jesus Christ. Some people will worship and obey it and be led astray. (One might speculate that misguided groups that already seek to forcefully set up an earthly kingdom for Christianity rather than wait for Christ’s return will be the most tempted to attach themselves to this idol, since it will be easy to use it as an excuse to say that it is now time to seize power. But this is only speculation.)

But Jesus already warned us of such things:

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Mt 24:23-27)

And as Jesus also said:

“Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.’ Therefore Pilate said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’” (Jn 18:36-37)

People who are not of the truth will listen to false Christs.

Young people today are increasingly “spiritual but not religious”. Many are even moving toward overtly occult spirituality and practices. This is likely partly in response to the scientism of the past century and to the powerlessness that many currently feel in our busy, anxious, increasingly-Christless culture. That busy, anxious lifestyle is fueled by our technology and now accelerated by our AI.

The more anxious the average person becomes, the more you will find people who seek something spiritually deeper. This is an opportunity for rooted Christians to share the depth of God’s truth. Be prepared with the great depth of God’s Word and truth, and the peace we have in Christ, so that you can share it with those who seek it. If people in the church aren’t prepared to show them the light they seek from God’s Word, they will either despair or latch onto something else, whether it be astrology, voodoo, or Islam, or other religions.

Technically speaking, the Large Language Models that drive conversation in modern AI chatbots do not steal your data. But most of the companies that embed them in web and mobile applications and in operating systems certainly do collect as much of your data as they are able to. That is nothing new. (Since the early 2010s especially, businesses have seen user data as worth its metaphorical weight in gold.) But the interactions people pursue with AI chatbots gives these companies new avenues for collecting information about you.

If you type it into an AI chat that connects to the internet, you should assume that the content will not stay private. For instance, in 2025, it was revealed that even “private” chats with OpenAI’s ChatGPT could, under special circumstances, be seen by strangers, due to the fact that ChatGPT would sometimes pass a chat question to a generic Google search so it to look up relevant information through which to respond, and the search engine itself tracks queries and exposes them through search analytics data. Earlier in the same year, OpenAI experimentally exposed many user chats to be indexable by search engines. (Users technically opted in, but often didn’t realize what they were opting in to.) OpenAI claims to have since fixed both issues, but the point remains: Any data you enter into most of these systems is collected, and you are dependent on the trustworthiness of the businesses who collect it if you don’t want them to share it even further.

There is also a sense in which AI could more directly “steal your data”. People have begun to use modern AI to enhance web scraping tools, phishing scams, and even malware that can adaptively write scripts to hack a machine on the fly.

In all of these cases, the core issue is not the AI itself, but the sinfulness of humanity who is now empowered with AI. They very well might try to use AI to exploit you. But our Creator sees, and He whom the wind and the seas obey is in the boat with you in this life. “He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him.” (Ps. 18:30)

Similar to the previous question, governments and businesses have been watching and collecting data on people for a long time. That is nothing new. Without relying on modern AI, some have for instance recently been using geofencing to build an index of who attends Christian churches in parts of the US. (Geofencing uses data purchased from phone companies to tell when your phone enters a particular area on the map, based on what cell towers it connects to.) AI certainly is helping groups accelerate their data collection and analytics, just as it is accelerating many human endeavors. As AI improves, some business leaders have even proposed introducing AI to their employee computers that will constantly monitor every click and mouse movement in order to learn how to automate their tasks or even to act as a backseat driver to continually prompt the human toward how he or she can be more productive. (The author heard this proposed in glowing terms from a business leader in private conversation.)

People change behaviors when they know they are being observed. The love of many will grow cold out of fear of exposing themselves. (See Mt 24:12.) New wearable accessories like sunglasses that always record audio or video might make people afraid of even talking to each other in public.

But do not be ashamed of Christ. Increased exposure very well might lead to increased persecutions for Christians. But God is always watching you too, and He sees much more, and He loves you and He is coming soon. Take comfort in that and act in wisdom, thinking about His loving gaze more than the world’s gaze as you choose how to love Him in return and your neighbor as yourself in your words and deeds.

“Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 10:26-33)

One could argue that the internet has never been “safe”. Using and interacting with it comes with risks. But those risks are increasing. The two main risks are:

1. What you are exposed to (content)
2. Whom you are exposed to (external actors)

Both fronts are increasing in risk. Content on the internet is increasingly suspect as more of it becomes generated by AI rather than by humans, whether that is text, images, videos, or even podcasts. (See “Is AI a more objective source that I can rely on for news and ideas?” above.) And the external entities who are also connected to the internet are becoming increasingly adept at actively exploiting other users who are connected to the internet using AI tools. (See “Are governments or businesses using AI to spy on me?” above.)

The degree to which you are willing to connect with and engage with a network of not only people but also millions of machines that never sleep calls for wisdom that is applied to your own situation and context. Christians can still engage with the world on the internet, while not being of the world. Christian voices on common internet platforms like YouTube and Reddit not only reach many who would not otherwise hear the Gospel of Christ, but now also help shape the content that AI is trained on.

Let all things be done in proper moderation, and consider the duties God has called you to within your family and the community of people God has physically placed you among. Many people are called through their duties to engage with the internet. Many people are not, even if it can be an attractive and addicting convenience.

God is and always will be in charge, not man, nor man’s machines. Some people will inevitably leverage the opportunity of AI to try to institute some new vision of Utopia or communism or world order with AI at the top. Some governments might actually eventually cede a lot of control to AI. That is a separate issue from whether the Singularity will arise. Whether there will be a super-AI that will be better and faster at humans at everything is very unlikely. Our current advances in AI come from scientists imitating only the barest surface details of what God designed in the brain, and there is much that is not captured and likely cannot be due to practical constraints of virtual vs biological processing in physics.

Dumb AI is already being given more power though. God gave humanity stewardship of creation, and that can only be revoked by God, though we might “delegate” it to our machines. Our AI that we create, whether smart or dumb, is something we must prayerfully tend responsibly.

A plethora of dumb AI that’s “just smart enough” may be of more practical concern. The more responsibility we give it, along with autonomy, the more work we create for ourselves to shepherd that AI. In that scenario, we make ourselves into busy daycare supervisors over our AI, which behaves like a mass of small children who also happen to manage our large businesses.

This should be important to the Christian because we are not our own; we were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body and your mind, and seek to build up yourself as a living temple of God that brings honor to His name before others.

It should be noted that the term “smart” or conversely “dumb” can be used in different senses. (See “Distinguishing and Defining Performant Intelligence” in the Resources section above.) So technically, the answer to the question depends on what one means by the term. But it is true that the way we use AI (or anything else) does change how we think, in two particular ways: passive and active.

First, there is the passive consequence of using AI. That is, the general “use it or lose it” principle is true of human cognition. If you use AI to do something that you used to do with your own mind, your skill to do that will atrophy. If you grow up using AI to do it, you will never learn that skill, and never be able to use that skill to help learn other skills that build from it. For instance, learning to write essays on paper with ink without a word processor and without the ability to easily erase what you write will train your mind to structure your writing and thinking with more forward planning than you might do otherwise, which can then boost your other planning skills.

Second, there is the active consequence of using AI. That is, your mind will adapt to specialize in any skill that you use it for often. For instance, if you spend time as a nurse or phlebotomist, you might start to analyze everyone’s arms in terms of how you would poke their veins, even when not at work.

What are the passive consequences of using AI? This is still changing as AI grows to take over more and more of our tasks. Rising illiteracy among American youth is already a recognized problem in education. That could continue to get worse if youth grow up relying on AI to read and write for them so they don’t have to. More concerning still, it has been shown that AI use is already leading to reduced critical thinking skills among youth. If you use AI to do your planning for you, your willingness and ability to plan for yourself will atrophy. If you use AI to make all your choices for you, you will lose the ability to choose for yourself. You will effectively become a slave of the machine (or whoever controls the machine).

What are the active consequences of using AI? It depends on how you use it. If you use it as a conversation partner, or as a tutor (as some schools are attempting), your mind will adapt to actively prefer that kind of conversation over human conversation to the same proportion as you practice it. If you use it to make yourself more fast-paced in productivity or reading or research, your mind will adapt to need to function at a fast pace, and you might find it harder and harder to do anything that requires slow, deliberate thought. You might even find it harder to rest (which has already been a problem in the post-internet era).

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