King Solomon tried wisdom, along with everything else a human could pursue in this world. He reported, “With much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief” (Eccl. 1:18, NIV). Having access to vast amounts of rapidly synthesized information doesn’t insulate us against suffering. Christians should neither fear LLMs nor count on them to solve all our problems.
Artificial intelligence has become impressive. Large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT can now mimic human experts. It’s intimidating to think about a new world where computers sound as smart as a practiced hospital nurse or legal assistant.
ChatGPT works by absorbing a vast amount of literature—more than any person could ever read. As these models improve their ability to parrot human writing, the LLMs will keep sounding smarter. AI agents could potentially learn something humans don’t yet know by running new scientific experiments. But even that would mean they’re only uncovering another corner of the universe God created and already knows intimately.
While some have compared LLM breakthroughs to “building god,” or used descriptors like “god-like” to describe what AI can do, the distance between even the most advanced LLMs and God remains infinitely vast. AI can mimic human intelligence, subject to constraints (like electricity usage). However, even if AI tools became leading poets or groundbreaking scientists—mimicking the brilliance of human creativity—this wouldn’t put AI in the same class as God.
Difference Between Human and Divine Intelligence
The Bible’s ancient writers went out of their way to differentiate human intelligence from God’s knowledge.
Scripture repeatedly emphasizes God’s omniscience, portraying him as the possessor of infinite knowledge and wisdom. Psalm 147:5 declares, “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.” This limitless understanding is beyond human comprehension, as Isaiah 55:9 illustrates: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God’s intelligence transcends time and space, as Romans 11:33 exclaims: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
While humans possess finite intelligence—prone to error and limited by the confines of the physical world—God’s intelligence is characterized by perfection, infallibility, and an eternal perspective.
Uses and Limits of AI
Mark Zuckerberg recently said about AI, “There’s all this science fiction about creating intelligence where it starts to take on all these human-like behaviors. . . . The current incarnation of all this stuff feels like it’s going in a direction where intelligence can be pretty separated from consciousness, agency, and things like that, which I think just makes it a super valuable tool.”