A.I. technology will change the planet. Read our first thoughts on A.I. here: Is A.I. the Next Tower of Babel? While A.I. can offer many enhancements to human life and human flourishing, it will also come with its own side effects. Here are five things we will lose if we don’t intentionally provide healthy parameters.

1. Personal Development

The percentage of high school students who report using Generative A.I. tools for schoolwork has increased from 79% to 84% between January and May 2025. [1] While there is disagreement as to how we should be integrating this technology into education, the obvious fact is that such a powerful tool can be used as a crutch for laziness. When presented with an opt-out, it is much more convenient to resort to an easy path than to learn to do hard things the hard way. But what do we lose in our businesses or life experiences if we do not learn how to work through failure or grow through pain? If we constantly outsource challenges, then we outsource our opportunities for growth. Determination, experience, sacrifice, and personal development are the rungs of the ladder that force us to ascend in life. If A.I. begins doing all of our thinking for us, our calculating, writing, risk reduction, management systemization, brainstorming, researching, and analyzing arguments, then we will lose the capacity to fail forward. When tasks get hard, or we don’t feel like doing them, the temptation will be to give in to the fast or easy answer. We’ll have to be careful not to indulge ourselves and skip the process.

2. Relational Contact

Technology is transforming the way we relate to people. Social media had promised to help social integration, and in some ways, it had. But in many other ways, we’ve seen a reduction of our society’s ability to relate person to person. Some of my teenage daughter’s friends, for example, will spend minimal time looking a person in the eye and relating in the present moment. Instead, my daughter laments how they text or multitask on their phones while socializing amidst distractions. Technology enables us to live somewhere else and not be immersed in the moment. That comes at the cost of deeply fulfilling relationships.

Societally, we seem to be losing the ability to know how to deal with each other’s foibles and flaws, opinions, differences, or drama. We like the idea of people. We need people. But we don’t know how to actually be around people without our avatar or our carefully curated photo. An emerging trend among teenagers has been the use of A.I. companions to supplement what they lack in vulnerability. [2] A similar trend is taking place among adults who are using A.I. as their virtual therapist instead of going to an actual counselor. [3] Our own counselors at Petra Church are reporting how some of their clients are using ChatGPT to pray for them, or to provide relational comfort they don’t receive from their parents or spouse.

It is much easier to share the secrets of your shameful or painful memories with a computer designed to affirm you than with another human being who may correct you or misunderstand you. Yet, this technology will increasingly erode our ability to live outward-facing lives, secure in all of our weaknesses and humanness. If the church is supposed to be a community that lives in transparency, it will take more effort to help others who are “lost” feel safe enough to step out of the shadows and into a healthy community and relationships.

3. Trust

A.I. voice cloning scams are increasing. [4] Deep fake videos of public figures have become commonplace. The public doesn’t know whether a public figure is the victim of malicious slander or whether they are a scoundrel who’s been caught. Previous media bias is being compounded by media manipulation for Instagram reels. Who doesn’t, to some degree, doubt everything they hear or see anymore? I hardly know when to trust that I have a legitimate payment due or when it’s a fraudulent scammer who hijacked our accounts.

Trust is the central nervous system of any society; everything requires trust. Business transactions, social relationships, laws, institutions, politics, and religious environments all require trust to function in healthy ways. The increase in technology’s power to mimic real life has led to an increase in deception and the twisting of reality. So we are losing the capacity to rely on each other?

This puts a greater level of responsibility on our already frayed relationships. Integrity and transparency are more important than ever, and in some ways, harder than ever. Because trust is evaporating, genuine, meaningful personal relationships will continue to become a precious commodity in the generations to come.

4. Moral Boundaries

Our digital spaces will continue to accelerate all human cultures and habits. A.I. will magnify our ability to communicate the gospel, investigate curiosities in science, and indulge our sinfully sick desires. Technology compounds culture. Users beware. It will be up to the users to fortify their own homes and their own minds from graphic content or morally promiscuous temptations. Political laws may help to regulate this to a degree, but they will not stop the crescendo of moral depravity. This is not surprising. Jesus warned that in the last days there would be a harvest of wickedness and righteousness. So set your heart on seeking the Lord and using technology to love and serve him, not in indulging your sinful desires.

5. Relying on the Holy Spirit

In the same way that technology is transforming the way we relate to people, it is transforming how we relate to God. Every spare minute we’ve historically enjoyed, waiting at the doctor’s office, sitting at a stop light, or riding the bus, is now occupied with fidgeting on a screen. If we want answers, we turn to ChatGPT.  If we are bored, we occupy our minds with our phones. If we want a companion, we now turn to A.I. We are no longer in the habit of tuning into our environment, the world around us, nature, our own soul, or especially the still small voice of the Lord’s presence in our lives. We are simply out of practice. The rate of distraction is not getting any easier. It will require a concentrated effort to deny the itch to turn to a screen and to relearn how to talk to the Holy Spirit. “Pray continually,” Paul writes to the Thessalonian church. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit,” he encourages the Ephesian community. Learning to walk with the Holy Spirit is a practice. Technological integration is not necessarily at odds with living a lifestyle of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, but it will take practice to blend them in a healthy way. God wants to be our soul’s companion, our source of wisdom, and our object of worship—not A.I.

Summary

For all of the warnings, I don’t believe we need to fear A.I. However, these are five ways that I think we need to be vigilant and train ourselves and our children on how to have healthy boundaries around this powerful technology. It will change society. But our needs for trust, for deeply meaningful relationships, for moral boundaries, and for spiritual connection to God will remain constant no matter how far into the unknown future we travel.

[1] College Board, October 6, 2025.

[2] Common Sense Media’s July 16, 2025 study cited by Benton Institute

[3] A National Library of Medicine study from 2024 found 47% of community members used A.I. as a personal therapist.

[4] A helpful guide to navigating Voice Scamming calls.

Tags: trust, humanity, life, holy spirit, peace, technology, listening, relationships, creator, deception, boundaries, environment, social media, human flourishing, a.i. personal development