By now, everyone knows that AI stands for Artificial Intelligence and that it is causing both excitement and alarm.  It is one of the technological subjects that interests me, but I will resist the temptation to waffle on about how it works, and other aspects that most people are just not bothered with. Instead,

I want to focus on two things: what everyone needs to know about AI, and then what might interest Christians in particular.

Some things that should concern all of us

A much-lauded positive result of applying AI is that it frees humans from performing low-level or repetitive tasks, thereby creating more time to be creative and innovative. In First-World countries with low unemployment rates, this could be a positive development. However, in Third-World countries with high unemployment rates, perhaps it is not.

I live in a Third-World country where the expanded unemployment rate is over 42%. The total population, including an estimate of unregistered immigrants, is about 65 million. So, that means that about 28 million people do not have employment! So, for millions of people, the fact that AI is doing the routine and repetitive work is not good news.

To exacerbate the situation, according to some research findings, a large percentage of the country's total population, and not just the unemployed, is estimated to be incapable of facing the cognitive challenges of a rapidly increasing AI-driven economy.

In my country, the state avoids terrible hardship or anarchy by paying out huge amounts of taxpayers’ money in monthly allowances and subsidies to unemployed people. The problem is that the government has run out of money, taxpayers, and loan financing!

So, what is to be done? For starters, where precision and accuracy are not paramount, the private sector could forgo the additional profits that come from employing AI to do low-grade tasks. That is highly unlikely because businesses in South Africa need to compete with overseas companies if they are to survive. Secondly, both private and public sectors could upskill as many low-IQ education people as they can, and this is where AI can help a lot. AI is great for designing and implementing educational and skills training programmes. This would require massive and rapid organisation, funding and expertise, so this too is very unlikely to happen in the near future. Private home owners could also help by employing people with cognitive challenges to work as domestic helpers, gardeners and so on, and responsibly help them get by if they can. Some people who live in large houses often employ the minimum number of domestic helpers on the grounds that they can’t afford it, yet they eat out frequently and go on expensive holidays. Perhaps we should all rethink where we stand on this? Even if there was an immediate and country-wide change of heart, this strategy would be a drop in the unemployment ocean.

How we all should use AI at a personal level

For most of us, AI is probably best used for quickly getting information on almost anything, and it beats Search Engines hands down. It is also great for comparing and evaluating options, critiquing assertions. summarising and so on. Another great use for AI is to treat it as a discussion partner. Ask it questions and then interact by challenging or qualifying its responses or your questions. This yields the best results while still fully engaging our brains, personal experience and knowledge bases.

How not use AI, in my opinion, is to set it tasks and allow it to do our thinking for us. This is ethically questionable and also detrimental to us.

A recent study was conducted by a top American University, which tracked 54 participants writing essays over four months.  They were allowed to use AI as much as they wanted.  They then compared the results to a control group that did not use AI and found that the AI-assisted group displayed lower brain activity, particularly the mental activity linked to creativity and memory. Moreover, the reports claim that there was an 83% inability to accurately recall what they had written! Another 2025 study of 666 participants found a marked correlation between frequent AI use and critical thinking scores. Younger users showed higher dependence and worse performance.

The study did not prove permanent brain decline, but that the danger of ongoing dependence on AI is nevertheless real.

Ethical Considerations

A question that our experts and legislators are currently grappling with is 'To what extent can ‘creators’ claim ownership or take credit for something they produce with the help of AI?' I write a lot, so I will use that as an example. On one end of the spectrum is the use of spelling and grammar checkers in products such as Microsoft Word or Grammarly (forms of AI). I am both dyslexic and a lousy speller, so for me these aids are essential. They don’t save me time because I have to make so many corrections, but they save face and reputational damage.  These aids are as necessary to me as audio-to-text applications are to some physically impaired people. I do not regard these aids as presenting an ethical problem. What is more, I have no problem with using AI to scan my work for tone or content that could cause offence or be misunderstood. I have, on occasions, also asked AI to adapt my writing to be better understood and related to by certain age groups or types of people. It is at this point that things get a little dodgy for me.

Would I ask AI to write an article, or even a book, for me by just giving broad guidance and a few parameters? No, I wouldn’t normally do this, and if, for some reason, I did, I would clearly disclose that it was AI-generated. I would certainly never consider submitting an AI-generated document for peer review or educational credits. Publishers, writers’ associations, and educational institutions have already set clear standards, but we all need to settle for ourselves what is ethically and legally acceptable and what is not. And, of course, the same would apply to artistic works or innovations.

The broader societal impact of AI

I have recently watched several AI experts talking about the future effects of AI on society. Some have waxed lyrical about the hugely positive influence AI is having in the fields of medicine, pharmaceutics, and so on, where it performs admirably in helping doctors diagnose more accurately and assisting surgeons in delicate and difficult procedures. It helps in developing aids for the disabled, finding new cures and seems to have many other clear benefits to humanity. I am sure they are right about this, and we will all benefit from the rapid advances being made. On the other side of the coin are the equally rapid AI-led advances in lethal arms development, narcotics creation, and techno-crime of every sort. AI is also being used to trick us into giving access to our banking accounts! I get about 5 emails or SMS attempts to defraud me every day, as well as sporadic telephone calls trying to get me to allow access to my bank accounts! Of late, they have been getting sophisticated and deceptive with the use of AI, making them even more convincing.

Beyond financial deception, there is a more subtle and troubling effect of AI that impacts our mental and spiritual well-being. At this level, the impact of AI, as I experience it, is almost entirely negative.

The other day, I stumbled on a YouTube video where a so-called professor of applied mathematics claimed to have had a near-death experience where Jesus gave him five warnings to the world. Strangely enough, he was presented as an avowed and vigorous atheist. He said that these warnings would be observed by everyone around the world and would all occur in January 2026.

I used AI to research and analyse the video and unsurprisingly found it to be an AI-generated fake. I also discovered that there were dozens of variations of the theme flying around the internet – an imaginary elderly woman claimed a similar experience, as did a soldier, a Jewish scholar, a boy, a political advisor, and many more.

This example is not an isolated incident, but part of a rapidly growing pattern. Why do people do this? The main reason is no doubt that they get paid money by advertisers and media companies, depending on the number of views they get and the duration of each view. Also, it is easy to get a suite of AI applications that produce high-quality and potentially convincing content. One person can produce up to ten of these videos a day by using AI! To make matters even worse, these videos can sow fear or morbid satisfaction for some folks – some even call it ‘fear-porn’, can you believe it?

A global concern

Some of what I have described so far may sound like a uniquely South African crisis, but the same dynamics are beginning to surface globally - and at a scale that could affect every nation.

Some of the same AI experts I have mentioned watching also debated a big concern for all thought-leaders, politicians, and top business executives. If AI does away with as many jobs as it seems it will, then how do the jobless survive? The apparent answer is that the governments of the world will have to pay a universal income allowance to everyone on the planet- a sort of dole or social grant on steroids. So apparently, we will all be able to get along just fine without earning a living. But here is the thing. Who would pay for these multi-gazillion-dollar grants? Why the governments, of course. And where would they get the money to do this? Well, in taxes from the tech giants, who make obscene profits from producing the AI that is the cause of the problem. It sounds a bit like a snake-eating-its-own-tail metaphor. This whole scenario raises a question that is not merely financial, but profoundly human and spiritual.

Beyond the economic questions lies a deeper human issue - one that goes far beyond employment figures and government policy.