ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Like many others, generative AI has become a nearly daily part of my life in the last couple years. I’ve found help for home repairs. Diet and exercise plans. Meal preparation. Trip planning. Personal health assessments. Footnote formatting. Even baseball swing and pitching advice for my son. Combine the best of Google and YouTube, tailored to my specific needs and situations from changing windshield wipers to fixing sump pumps, and that’s how I’ve used AI so far. I know I’m not even scratching the surface of what agentic AI can and will eventually do. I’ve seen friends spin up websites it would have taken years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to build just five years ago.
But do you know the most common use? It’s not one I’ve employed myself. And it’s not one I’d recommend. But according to Harvard Business Review, it’s remained perched on the top from 2025 to 2026 even as other common uses have wildly fluctuated up and down the charts.
It’s therapy and companionship.
If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering about how AI chatbots could be the reasons companies like OpenAI have been valued at $852 billion. Or why AI has become the widely and quickly adopted new technology in human history. Isn’t AI supposed to revolutionize business? Upend every profession and transform entire economies?
Perhaps.
The trend is clear. It looks like many others have been turning to AI for help in fixing their toilets. (Claude was wrong in my situation, by the way.) More commonly, AI is less of a computer interface and more of a, well, human face. A friend to share jokes and silly pictures. An imaginative storyteller. A trusty counselor to assess your new relationship. A medium who can predict your future. And a wise confidant who promises not to lead you astray (or tell you what you don’t want to hear).
Given the wild predictions about AI’s unparalleled value, how can these cases be the most common ways we employ the technology? Is your daily horoscope worth $852 billion?
Now, what if I told you this is exactly what the builders of AI expected us to do?
That’s the vision behind a new book, The AI Apocalypse: A Survival Guide for Humanity, which I edited along with Skyler Flowers and The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. I spoke on my introduction from the book at a recent TGC regional chapter meeting in Nashville.
Thank you to TGC Nashville and Edgefield Church for hosting and recording this podcast in front of a lively and engaged audience. You could have heard a pin drop when I talked to these (mostly) pastors about why AI will write their next sermon. Now is the time to work through the ethical implications together and decide where to draw the line.
In This Episode:
0:00 AI's Unexpected Role as a Human Companion and Counselor
7:21 AI, Love, and the Lessons from Her
13:37 The Role of AI in Defining Human Purpose
20:17 The Impact of AI on Literacy and Human Creativity
28:51 The Irreplaceable Human Touch in Preaching Amid AI Advancements
38:39 Navigating AI Ethics in Church, Family, and Education
40:41 The Impacts of AI on Society and Economy
Resources Mentioned:
- AI Apocalypse edited by Collin Hansen
- Empire of AI by Karen Hao
- The Odyssey by Homer
- Social Acceleration by Hartmut Rosa
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics
- The Gospel Coalition
- Recorded (Podcast) by The Gospel Coalition
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