A recent Teen Vogue article explores common ways college students are using ChatGPT. The anecdotes in the article align with other reporting on common uses for AI, leading Liberty to explore three trends…
Using AI to replace or assist in interpersonal conversations
Using AI to replace brainstorming solutions for difficult situations
Using AI in place of or in addition to a therapist for mental health purposes.
Are there valid aspects to these uses, or just risks? Liberty discusses the alleged pros and potential cons of each trend, with a focus on how each use of AI impacts social connections and responsibilities in our individualistic society.
Chatbots can be problematic, but can they also be useful? If artificial intelligence can do everything we can do, what makes humans unique? Back to think through tough questions like these is Kate Lucky from Christianity Today. She shares insight from her recent feature piece, “AI Will Shape Your Soul,” a deep-dive into what theologians and tech experts are saying about AI chatbots. Don’t miss part two of this interview, the final episode of our #KnowAboutHealthyTechHabits series! Listen to part one here.
Embodiment
Kate believes that everyone innately recognizes the importance of embodiment. “We feel that there’s something important to our bodies, to our humanity,” she told Know Why. Kate says this points back to the truth of the Christian tradition, which teaches that God took on a human body in the person of Jesus Christ. “It’s a really exciting place for a lot of these theologians, who are finding that the tech world is asking a lot of these questions about embodiment, for example,” she said.
Another question many are wrestling with considering the rapid advancements of AI: what does it mean to be human? If artificial intelligence can do things like converse and create art, what makes humans unique?
“We are more than any capability that we might have, any gift, any function that we can perform.”
Kate Lucky
Kate also points to Christian faith as providing peace in a time when many people worry about these questions. In short, our humanity doesn’t depend on our performance. “We are more than any capability that we might have, any gift, any function that we can perform,” Kate told Know Why. “We’re made in the image in the God just because we’re made in the image of God, and that’s that.”
Perks of New Technology
While we should think carefully about how our interactions with chatbots affect our habits and even our mental health, there could be helpful perks to the new technology. It’s not something to completely reject or accept without critical thinking, Kate says. “AI, for Christians, is always a starting point … it’s always just one piece of the puzzle.”
Are you prepared for a world where AI bots have replaced customer service workers, tutors, and even therapists? Do we lose part of our humanity when inconvenient, messy conversations with people are replaced by streamlined, efficient chatbots? Here to think through this with us and provide some answers is Kate Lucky, senior editor of audience engagement at Christianity Today. She shares insight from her recent feature article, “AI Will Shape Your Soul,” a deep-dive into what theologians and tech experts are saying about AI chatbots. Listen to part one of this interview now!
Something Different
Kate points out that Artificial Intelligence has been around for a long time and has many helpful uses. But a more recent development in AI technology are chatbots like ChatGPT, released by OpenAI last year. These systems can generate poetry, replicate art, and carry on convincing conversations. While fascinating, the humanness of such chatbots made many people uncomfortable, Kate says.
“We feel that there’s something important to our bodies, to our humanity. We feel that there’s a difference when we’re on a zoom call and when we’re sitting around a meeting table in person.”
Kate Lucky
Some people are enthusiastic about the potential uses for these kinds of chatbots, but Kate warns that we will miss out on life’s “richness” when authentic human interactions are replaced by AI. “A chatbot won’t pushback on you, won’t challenge your perspective on something,” Kate told Know Why. “You can’t really learn humility from a chatbot.”
To learn more about how our interactions with chatbots have the potential to form our habits and our souls, listen to Part 2 of Kate’s interview next week. You can also see the resources below.
