AI can map locations and organize vacation itineraries,
But it cannot stand at the edge of a cliff
In awe at the beauty and grandeur of God’s creation.
AI can create recipes and meal plans for seasonal produce,
But it cannot savor a summer peach cobbler
Or the company of friends laughing around the dinner table.
AI can help time-block a homeschool schedule,
But it cannot sit with my son on the couch, sounding out words,
Or delight in a math fact finally clicking in my daughter’s mind.
AI can spot typos and output the perfect citation,
But it can never testify about how the master storyteller
Weaves goodness, beauty, and truth into its life.
AI can provide book recommendations and trigger warnings,
But it does not weep at a well-crafted redemptive arc
Or have its heart skip a beat from a first kiss on a moor.
AI can break down task lists and set productivity goals,
But it cannot wipe the sweat off its brow and step back
Basking in the fruit of its hard work and creativity.
AI can do a lot of things humans can do—
Sometimes more efficiently and effectively than we can.
It can research and analyze, write and produce.
But it will never replace humans
Because the identity and dignity planted in us
Was never based on our productive output.
Our worth is based in the Imago Dei—
The unique place we have in God’s creation
To reflect and relate to our Creator.
What makes humans special is not our ability
to think, to work, to order, to create.
AI can already do all that.
But it cannot love.
We were created out of the overflow of a loving triune God.
To let his love pour out of us as we co-create with him.
AI can think for us. It can produce for us. It can help us.
But it cannot love us. It cannot love for us.
It can give knowledge, but it cannot give us life.
So let us love through every trip experienced, every recipe cooked,
every email crafted, every lesson plan executed,
every story shared, and every word written.
We can allow AI to do what we created it to do
And focus on what only we were created to do.
AI can replace jobs, but it can never replace humans who love.
“If I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains
but do not have love,
I am nothing.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:2
I am neither an AI enthusiast nor an alarmist, but I have been thinking a great deal about what AI cannot do in a world obsessed with what it can do.
This poem was inspired by a recent interview with Michael Keller on the Gospel Coalition’s new podcast, Silicone Spiritualities.
"Because the identity and dignity planted in us
Was never based on our productive output."
WHEW! <3