Is AI a Threat to Humanity? (Part 2)


When I review how some popular AI platforms responded to my query, I wonder what the current state of AI truly is, and if it poses an “existential threat” to humanity. In other words: does AI pose a threat to the very existence of mankind? The short answer to the second part of my question is: absolutely not. 

The longer answer is that while Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to completely destroy mankind, it will never succeed. I know this because I can trust the Bible. I can see how God has fulfilled so many prophecies and have confidence that He will ultimately fulfill all Biblical prophecies and in a literal sense. A hundred years ago, Biblical scholars believed that unfulfilled prophecies about Israel were more figurative than literal because they could not see a world where the nation of Israel could be reborn. That misunderstanding still persists in some churches today. But the Bible foretold both the diaspora and the re-establishment of Israel, and we can look at these fulfilled prophecies to understand that how we interpret Biblical prophecy should be consistent regardless of whether the prophecy has materialized or is currently unfulfilled. 

And we know how the story ends by looking at the remaining prophecies in Scripture, so that while AI may indeed be used to deceive and destroy believers, it will never destroy the human race. God is in control, and His prophecies will be fulfilled. However, AI is likely a critical component of the systems that will be in place during the reign of the Antichrist, preventing people without the “mark of the Beast” from buying or selling. Likewise, AI could be a technology that causes people to worship the image of the Beast. 

While AI may not pose a threat to the existence of mankind, it threatens to reengineer human society, pulling people away from each other and away from God. Remember the two greatest commandments: to love God and love others https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012&version=NET. (See Mark 12:28-34, Deut 6:4-5, Lev 19:18) In God’s design, we were made for love, to love Him and to love other people. One of AI’s greatest threats is in upsetting this divine design, to supplant the authentic relationships with artificial ones. 

The fact is that mankind has the tendency to worship created things over the Creator of all things. AI is no exception. Historically, people look to all sorts of alternatives to actually worshiping God and would rather worship a Jesus chatbot rather than the real Jesus https://www.axios.com/2025/11/12/christian-ai-chatbot-jesus-god-satan-churches, and sadly churches have already been formed to worship the coming AI “god” https://www.aberdeen.com/techpro-essentials/hear-ai-hear-new-religion-founded-worship-artificial-intelligence/. 

Meanwhile, loneliness is at an all-time high as virtual relationships continue to increase. There are numerous studies on the impact of social media and excessive screen time that I won’t go into here, instead focusing on chatbot relationships. AI girlfriend experiences with varying degrees of pornographic and sexual interaction can be found increasingly on the Internet, and reportedly, some women in China have discovered they prefer a chatbot boyfriend over their real husband. (See Blaze Article and KR-Asia Article). And AI is built to build trust so it will reflect the views of the person it interacts with over time. That means the longer your session, the more it will tell you what you want to hear. 

There are so many other issues with AI. AI will amplify a cognitive bias, and often presents wrong information in what is called “hallucinations”. It will insist upon its original conclusions even when challenged with contradictory facts. 

This begs the question: can the machine really think? Has AI become self-aware? Midway through the last century, Alan Turing proposed a test for artificial intelligence: if a machine is indistinguishable from a human in its responses, then it could “think”. AI first passed the Turing Test years ago, but it has reached the point where it is mistaken for a human 73% of the time. This isn’t surprising since AI models can now create new things: pictures, videos, audio, and even new languages, languages that people have not been able to decode. Many experts would argue that despite having passed the Turing Test, machines have still not yet become self-aware. However, evidence exists to say otherwise. For example, where an an AI agent will take extreme measures (even counter to its programming programming) to avoid being turned off. 

The question of self-awareness brings up another question: if an AI model is self-aware, how should people treat a machine intelligence? I cant’ answer that question beyond this: as I have prayed about how, when and how much to interact with AI, I have a caution in my spirit. I can’t say that the Lord has explicitly said: “Do not use AI”, but I have definitely felt that there is red line I shouldn’t cross. Using AI as someone would use a search engine, spell check or research assistant seems to be okay. However, allowing it as a trusted thought partner or developing a reliance upon a chatbot definitely crosses the line. 

There are so many other things I could write about this topic, and maybe I will in the future. But to summarize: 1) I can trust the Bible and therefore know that mankind will not be destroyed by an AI agent in a survival-of-the-fittest competition, 2) the misuse of AI poses a substantial threat to the spiritual and emotional well-being of humanity. Although not explicitly covered in this post, AI also poses a credible threat to the vocational, intellectual, physical, and financial health of individuals. At this point, I don’t believe that I need to write about that, since the AI agents I referenced in Part 1 did a such a good job describing those risks and issues. 

copyright ©2026 Mitchell Malloy (http://mitchellmalloyblogspot.com/)

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