Episode #14
14: The AI Future: "Machines of Loving Grace" or "A Full-Grown Man"?
What do you think you'll do on a normal workday 10,000 years from now? In the new heavens and the new earth, we'll be working. We often think of the new heavens and the new earth as a setting of rest and celebration, but the truth is that work—good work!—will also be part of our lives in the age to come. God gave us work before the fall; it's part of his good design for human life. But have you pondered what work looks like in the nearer future? In ten or twenty years, will there still be a place for the dignity of doing work, and for exercising creativity and agency? What is human work meant to be? With the rise of artificial intelligence, the future of work is on everyone's mind. Dario Amadei, CEO of Anthropic, gives us his vision in his 2024 essay, "Machines of Loving Grace: How AI Could Transform the World for the Better." He posits that over the next decade, AI could help humanity to overcome disease, poverty, and inequality; people will be moved to tears as their dreams of what life should be come true. While the eradication of disease, poverty and inequality would indeed move people to tears, AI can't bring that vision of the future into being. The fundamental human challenge isn't a technological problem; it's a sin problem. What we need isn't a technological breakthrough to free us from the brokenness in the world, but someone to rescue us and teach us a better way to live. We need the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 4, Paul shares a different vision of what the future looks like. Here we read of Christ descending to the dead, then rising again three days later, and later ascending far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. Jesus is now enthroned in the place of full glory. Heaven and earth find their fulfillment in him. And he is working through the church to equip the saints for ministry, until we mature into "a full-grown man" (Ephesians 4:13). So what does this mean for work, today and tomorrow? It means we don't need technology to remove all our limits; we need divine grace to mature us within those limits. It starts with slowing down and choosing a human-centered approach to work over efficiency and profit at all costs. It means that as we walk with Jesus, he will grow us up into the kind of human beings (and human workers) we were always meant to be. Sources: Ephesians 4:7-16 (ESV) Leo XIV. Magnifica Humanitas [Magnificent Humanity]. Encyclical letter, May 15, 2026. Vatican translation. Steven Garber, Hints of Hope: Essays on Making Peace with the Proximate (Orleans, Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 2026). Dario Amodei, "Machines of Loving Grace: How AI Could Transform the World for the Better." October 2024. Richard Brautigan, "All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace," Allpoetry. Resources: Enroll in the Finding God at Work Course for Free: https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/ Downloaded the Finding God at Work E-Book for Free: https://missioncentral.church/finding-god-at-work-e-book/ Follow us on Instagram: @teammissioncentral Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamMissionCentral #FaithAndWork #ArtificialIntelligence #SpiritualFormation #FindingGodAtWork #AI #Formation #Hurry #TheFuture #Work #Efficiency
