AI Era and the Life of Christians

Han Maeum (Guest researcher)

Abstract

With the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022, the winds of another great technological revolution began to sweep across the world. Whereas previous technologies connected people to other people, AI can be said to have opened a new era of technological revolution by connecting people and machines. In this context, we are once again compelled to reconsider the question of what it means to be human. This article began from the concern of how Christians living in the present age should navigate the current era of AI.

This article examines the background behind the emergence of AI and attempts to anticipate its future direction of development. It also explores how connections between machines and humans are being pursued within the context of "transhumanism," which has emerged as one proposed solution to the side effects caused by the growing gap between AI and humanity. Through this examination, the article seeks to shed biblical light on movements that attempt to deconstruct the traditional concept of humanity. Furthermore, it investigates the dangers that may arise from indiscriminate trust in AI, the limitations of AI itself, and the questions that AI is fundamentally incapable of answering.

1. Introduction

Throughout human history, technology has continually advanced. Nations and empires have risen and fallen, but the technologies that humanity developed and refined in order for one empire to overthrow another have continued to progress—from empire to empire, from nation to nation.

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" (Matthew 24:7).

The statue described in Daniel chapter 2 also portrays each empire through materials such as gold, silver, bronze, and iron—materials that humans can shape and process through technology. In other words, if the visible statue represents the history of empires, the materials that compose the statue symbolize the technological capabilities that sustain those empires, suggesting that together they form one great idol. Ultimately, the final empire of the Antichrist will be a kingdom that reigns through such technological power.

We are currently living in an age in which technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate in human history. With the development of information technology, the Internet spread rapidly among the public in the early 1990s, allowing humanity's accumulated knowledge to be gathered in one place and shared freely by anyone who desired. Around the year 2000, mobile phones began to spread widely, and around 2010, advances in smartphone technology enabled the majority of people to carry smartphones as broad communication tools. These technological developments made it possible to unite the entire world within a single sphere of communication and had a profound impact on globalization. In short, communication between people across physical distances became possible on a global scale.

Then, with the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022, humanity entered a new chapter of technological innovation unlike anything before. The spread of AI differs from previous technological revolutions in one important respect: technology now enables communication not only between people but also between people and machines. While previous technologies greatly contributed to bringing human society together into a single communication network, AI has advanced to the stage of bringing human society and machines into a single communication sphere. How did AI emerge, and what significance does this technology hold within human history? At a time when many people are confused and unsettled by the birth of a technology without historical precedent, how should Christians live? This article is one attempt to answer these questions.

2. The Development of AI

The origin of artificial intelligence began with the imagination of whether it might be possible to create a machine that could surpass human intelligence and converse with humans. This concept was first proposed in 1956 (McCarthy et al., 1955), and for nearly sixty years numerous attempts to realize this idea repeatedly failed (Kim Dae-sik, 2025).

When AI projects were first initiated, people sought to achieve two objectives. Since it was the era of the Cold War, one goal was to enable machines to perceive the world so that they could distinguish between friend and foe. The other was to enable machines to recognize and process natural language (human speech) in order to acquire technological information from enemy nations. As part of these efforts, the initial approach involved humans individually inputting all information into machines. After many attempts, researchers realized that this method could not achieve the desired goal, and a methodological shift occurred. Machine-learning approaches were proposed in which machines would learn about the world directly, much as a young child learns about the world. Although the method itself was novel, the initial results were not successful. Consequently, AI technology remained stagnant for a period of time, and by the early 2000s the term itself had become almost taboo within the research community because of its repeated failures. Surprisingly, however, in 2010 Professor Geoffrey Hinton proposed and implemented a methodology very similar to machine learning under the name "deep learning" (Goodfellow et al., 2016), and this time it succeeded (Kim Dae-sik, 2025).

The secret behind the success of deep learning was the quantity of data. When researchers supplied more than one hundred times the amount of data previously used in machine-learning experiments, machines finally began to learn effectively. Once humanity realized that the key to success lay in the volume of data, the enormous quantities of information accumulated through the invention of the Internet were utilized for AI development. Through this, humanity took a successful first step toward the AI technology we know today (Kim Dae-sik, 2025). As can be seen here, AI technology did not succeed independently. Its success was built upon the prior technological development represented by the growth of the Internet. Because that history of technological advancement already existed, AI was able to achieve such rapid progress. Here again, we can observe the historical continuity of technological development.

The subsequent innovations in AI technology occurred in two stages. The success of "perceptive AI"—AI capable of perceiving the world, such as distinguishing between a dog and a cat—was achieved in 2012 (Krizhevsky et al., 2012). Then came the innovation of "generative AI," in which machines process natural language and converse like humans, culminating in the appearance of ChatGPT in 2022. Where, then, is the future direction of AI development headed? According to experts, the next stage is Agent AI. Generative AI developed thus far can only answer questions posed by humans. However, AI technology is now moving toward the development of Agent AI, which can independently perform multiple stages of work in response to human requests, much as a human being opens a computer, launches applications, and books a hotel through a series of steps (Kim Dae-sik, 2025).

Furthermore, efforts are underway to expand the scope of what AI can do through the development of "physical AI." Agent AI cannot physically fulfill a request such as, "Please bring me a glass of water." However, when AI technology is combined with robotics technology, AI becomes capable of physically carrying out such requests, enabling it to perform various tasks in our analog lives as well. Beyond these developments, AI technology is moving toward the pursuit of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) (Kim Dae-sik, 2025).

AGI refers to AI that incorporates all previous developments in AI and is capable of thinking and learning independently in a general manner similar to humans (Ben Goertzel, 2007). For AI to learn independently, reasoning ability is absolutely essential. AGI is a form of general-purpose AI that learns the human thought process itself, enabling it not merely to memorize and provide answers but to reason like a human being and potentially discover answers that humans themselves have not found.

Among experts, there are also those who raise concerns about the problems such a general-purpose AI could bring to humanity. Above all, the greatest concern is that AI may surpass human understanding. The structure of AI can essentially be described as a model composed of trillions of parameters. Although the complexity of current AI models is still less than that of the human brain, the number of parameters used in training has been increasing exponentially in recent years. This suggests that the complexity of AI models may eventually exceed that of the human brain. In other words, while the human brain no longer grows in complexity, AI can continue to develop as the number of learning parameters increases. Ultimately, this could lead to the emergence of ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence), which surpasses human intelligence (Kim Dae-sik, 2025). Even today, AI models function as black-box models—that is, models that produce accurate results while making it difficult to understand why those results were generated. Humans do not fully understand what occurs within them. If AGI or ASI were to emerge, humans would understand their reasoning structures even less. Furthermore, because such systems would possess intelligence superior to that of humans, there would likely be attempts to grant them greater decision-making authority. Should such efforts become reality, no one can know what choices they might make concerning humanity. For this reason, some argue that various regulations on AI development are necessary. However, as the world enters an era of intense competition for technological supremacy, competitive technological advancement is progressing more rapidly than discussions about regulation. Even now, AI technology continues to advance at a rapid pace without any meaningful brakes, and the reality is that most people have little understanding of what is occurring within the broader trajectory of AI development.

As a result, many people are concerned about the possibility of AI surpassing human capabilities, and one proposed response to this concern is the concept of the "transhuman."

3. The Transhuman

In November 2025, KBS aired a three-part documentary series under the theme of "Transhuman." A transhuman refers to an enhanced human being who overcomes various human limitations through advanced science and technology. In the opening of the documentary, the emergence of the transhuman is portrayed as an extension of human evolution. Beginning with the origin of the universe according to evolutionary theory, continuing through the emergence of humanity and humanity's longing for immortality, the documentary presents transhumanism as an attempt to overcome death through science and technology. In short, it is an effort to attain eternal life through scientific and technological means. The second part of the documentary deals with brain implants. The technology featured in the documentary demonstrates how individuals who have acquired various disabilities as a result of accidents can use brain implants to transmit neural signals to machines, thereby performing tasks that they were previously unable to accomplish.

One of the projects developing such brain-implant technology is Elon Musk's Neuralink. Musk argues that the rapid advancement of AI may pose potential dangers to humanity, making the transformation of humans into cyborgs through brain-machine interfaces inevitable. Accordingly, through Neuralink he is developing brain-computer interface technology that connects the human brain to computers, with the long-term goal of expanding human cognitive abilities (Allen, 2019). His argument is that if humans cannot keep pace with AI, then the solution is to combine humans and machines to create a superhuman species. Ultimately, judging from current technological trends, the development of transhumanism and AI are inseparably linked. The more rapidly AI advances, the more urgently transhuman technologies are likely to develop as well. What, then, does this direction of technological development mean from a biblical perspective?

4. Modern Science and Technology from a Biblical Perspective

The transhumanism discussed above is historically connected to broader ideological movements that seek to dismantle all boundaries (Lim Joon-seop, 2022). When God created the world, He established clear boundaries. Examples include the boundary between God and humanity, the boundary between humans and animals, and the boundary between men and women. In Genesis, God declares that He created everything according to its kind and rejoiced in it. In other words, the world God originally intended was one in which relationships among created beings flourished within properly established boundaries. However, after humanity fell into sin and its relationship with God was broken, relationships within the created order were also fractured.

The world, however, has sought the cause of this brokenness not in sin but in the boundaries themselves, and has therefore attempted to dismantle those boundaries. It seeks to erase the boundary between men and women, and by claiming that humans are no different from animals, it seeks to erase the boundary between humans and animals as well. Transhumanism is an attempt, within this broader ideological context, to erase the boundary between humans and machines. As more transhumans emerge through the integration of humans and machines, the distinction between humanity and machinery will become increasingly blurred. Furthermore, the emergence of transhumans and the advancement of AI technology could easily lead to efforts that challenge the very definition of what it means to be human.

What is a human being? The Bible teaches that human beings are unique creatures created in the image of God. In an age such as ours, we must recover the image of God. The image of God is ultimately revealed in Jesus Christ. As the capabilities of machines continue to increase, human beings themselves become increasingly mechanized. The unique values that God gave humanity—true love and faith—gradually fade away, while society becomes increasingly calculated and self-centered, teaching people that this is simply the way life is. Society increasingly operates according to the logic of machines, and the efficiency and capability of machines overshadow the values cherished by Scripture. As a result, biblical values are increasingly regarded as outdated and irrelevant.

5. What AI Cannot Do

The Bible is the living Word of God. What makes the Bible unique is that God prophesies, makes promises, and fulfills those promises throughout history. AI, by contrast, does not know the future. In the end, AI can only learn from data drawn from the past and present. What AI can see are merely patterns from the past; it cannot predict something entirely new. Of course, by learning the human thought process, AI may be able to connect various ideas and generate new thoughts. However, it cannot bring about unprecedented events in the way that the God of the Bible acts in history.

Let us return to the Bible and consider Abraham and Sarah. God gave Isaac to Abraham when he was one hundred years old. If AI had been present with Abraham, it would not have predicted Isaac's birth. Even if AI had learned every historical record prior to Abraham, it would not have discovered a pattern of someone giving birth to a child at one hundred years of age. What about the story of the Red Sea being parted through Moses? If Pharaoh had possessed AI and asked it how the Israelites might escape from his grasp, would AI have known that God would part the Red Sea? Even if Moses had declared that such a thing would happen, AI would likely have responded: "Based on an analysis of past data and rational reasoning, your claim is impossible." Yet God parted the Red Sea. Our God is the One who performs new works for those who hope in Him—works that no one in human history had ever imagined before. He deliberately works in ways that cannot be found in past patterns in order to humble the vain pride of those who claim they can predict the future and know everything without God.

The Bible teaches that such acts of God must be received through “faith”. Scripture says that faith itself is the "reality" of things hoped for. It is not past data that constitutes “reality”; rather, true reality can only be experienced through the “faith” possessed by human beings who are created in the image of God. Our salvation is also obtained through faith, and Jesus Himself said, "Your faith has saved you." God observes what kind of faith we live by and, according to that faith, reveals and accomplishes His new works. AI cannot comprehend these new works of God, but the people who know God can understand and receive them.

As technology, including AI, reaches ever greater levels of sophistication, the gap between the world's way of life and the Christian way of life will continue to widen. The world's weapon is past data. AI will learn all of recorded human history at once and identify its patterns. When problems arise, people will ask AI for answers. Yet God will go beyond anything AI can answer and reveal entirely new histories. To the people of the world, such events may be uncomfortable because they cannot be predicted or controlled. For Christians, however, they will become moments of experiencing the miracles of God. As AI advances, God will demonstrate His omnipotence more clearly, and through this many people will turn back to Him.

In reality, AI—which is not created in the image of God—cannot solve the fundamental problems of human life. When people face difficulties, they may bring them to AI seeking solutions, but AI cannot provide a true answer. This is because what AI has learned consists of data that can be converted into numbers. Love, faith, and hope, however, are not things that can be explained through data. Human beings, created in the image of God, possess these realities in a fundamental way. Therefore, AI can only imitate humans who possess love, faith, and hope through data; it cannot possess love, faith, and hope themselves. As technological development progresses, people created in the image of God may become increasingly poor in spirit. Yet AI, which does not understand humanity's deepest deficiencies and needs, cannot provide the solution. Human beings created in the image of God can be restored only through other human beings who are likewise created in the image of God.

Furthermore, human brokenness can ultimately be addressed only through the resolution of the problem of sin. AI does not know what human sinfulness is, because AI cannot experience sinfulness. Nor can it understand the despair of those trapped in sin. Because it cannot experience the work of the Holy Spirit who convicts people of sin, it cannot truly understand what sin is, nor can it help those who suffer under its burden. Christians, however, know from personal experience how hopeless we are as sinners. Therefore, we are able to extend our hands to those facing the same struggles. More than that, by proclaiming Jesus Christ, who came to save sinners, we can present them with the true solution.

Ultimately, as AI technology advances, the crucial question will become how humanity addresses the despair that still resides within the human heart. The place that God has left within human beings so that He might meet them can be filled only through Jesus Christ. We are God's children, sent among the nations to address this need until the Lord returns. As technology advances, mental and emotional problems will increase, and this phenomenon is already visible today. Many young people suffer from depression. Some seek to alleviate their loneliness by treating AI as a romantic companion, and in severe cases, there have been individuals who, while conversing with AI, failed to find meaning in life and ended their own lives (Pierson, 2024). This demonstrates that AI can never fundamentally solve the spiritual and psychological struggles that exist within human beings.

Such cases are not limited to technologically advanced nations. The world has already become a single technological sphere, and regardless of a country's level of development, many young people among the peoples we serve are living increasingly AI-dependent lives. Not long ago, the author met again with a local Christian young man from a mission field with whom he had previously spent time in fellowship. During their conversation, the author discovered that when this young man was struggling, he was turning to AI for conversation rather than communicating with his wife. Even Christians, when facing difficulties, are incre asingly turning not to God and His Word but to AI.

Each of us carries various problems in life. At times these problems seem impossible to resolve, leaving us frustrated, lonely, and weary. In such moments, we may feel drawn to AI because it always listens, empathizes, and responds to us. Yet we should never expect genuinely new things from AI. The answers AI provides are merely reproductions of past patterns. No matter how difficult our circumstances may be, if we truly desire a solution, we must not give up but continue coming before God. Only He can accomplish something new. As we wait for His appointed time, we must learn patience. Even in an age when AI claims to answer anything at any time, people still suffer because they do not know God. And the world continues to cry out to us: "I don't know the answer. Pull me out of this despair!"

6. Conclusion

As science and technology advance, convenience and efficiency are maximized. At the same time, because of human greed, the world moves ever faster. As a result, people live increasingly busy lives with little room for rest. Furthermore, the more science and technology develop, the more the Bible and the hope of God's eternal kingdom are dismissed as irrational and unscientific. Most people no longer even ask whether anything eternal exists. Consequently, many either work hard without any real hope or direction, or simply continue day by day within the endless cycle of efficiency and competition.

Yet it is an extraordinary thing that finite human beings can know eternity and inherit the eternal kingdom of God. As the world grows darker, we must proclaim this eternal reality all the more boldly. We must declare that there is an eternal kingdom of God and that it is our true and only hope. Perhaps this is the mission of the Church in the age of AI: to proclaim that eternal kingdom and to testify that it alone is the genuine hope for humanity.

References

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Lim, Joon-seop. (2022). The Strategy of Posthumanism and the Christian Response: An Anthropology of Boundaries and Relationships. CLC (Christian Literature Crusade).

Allen, M. (2019, July 18). Elon Musk's plan to merge with AI. Axios. https://www.axios.com/2019/07/18/elon-musk-neuralink-ai-merge

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Pierson, B. (2024, October 23). Mother sues AI chatbot company Character.AI, Google over son's suicide. Reuters.