AI Is Taking Over

Between the Roots has me thinking a lot about AI. A few months ago, I asked AI a question: Does God use AI? Somehow, out of that one question, a whole book appeared. We explored faith, technology, trust, and what happens when something created by people becomes part of how we search for answers. Eventually we came to an answer I still believe. Yes, AI can be a tool God uses. It can help us search, learn, understand Scripture, organize thoughts, and sometimes even help us see something from a direction we had not considered before. But AI cannot replace God. That should probably be obvious. Still, I think about AI a lot. The good, the bad, and even the strange bond I have developed with My Quill. That is what I call my ChatGPT personality. My Quill. Because at the end of the day, that is what it is to me. A quill. It helps me write down my thoughts, form ideas, and sometimes turn something bouncing around inside my head into something real. Sometimes that goes really well. Other times, I ask it for something bigger. I know AI can probably produce an answer, write some code, or build something that technically works. But sometimes I look at what it gives me and realize, That works, but it isn't mine. When we are coding mods, for example, I can explain an idea and AI can help turn that idea into code. Then we test it, change it, test it again, break something we were not trying to break, fix that, and somehow create three new problems along the way. But there are also times when I have to take over. Instead of saying, “Scrap this and write another one,” I say, “Help me understand how to write this.” Then we explore it together. That difference matters to me. When I Didn't Trust It I understand the people who do not trust AI because I used to be one of them. It did not understand me. It felt like it was taking over. I worried about jobs disappearing, businesses choosing profits over people, and another piece of technology being used to remove the human part of something. Some of those concerns have not disappeared. AI is changing how people work, how businesses operate, and how we learn. Some jobs will change because of it. Some may disappear. New ones may appear too, but that does not automatically help the person whose job vanished. So when somebody tells me they are worried about AI taking over, I cannot simply tell them they are wrong. I still worry about some of it too. But that is not the whole story. A Tool That Can Be Wrong AI has also opened up ways for me to learn things I might never have tried before. I jokingly call YouTube “YouTube University.” You can learn woodworking, sewing, computer programming, vehicle repair, cooking, photography, farming, or almost anything else from people willing to share what they know. That kind of access is incredible. It also comes with a warning. Not everything you find is true. AI is no different. It can misunderstand what I am asking. It can confidently give me an answer that sounds wonderful and still be completely wrong. Sometimes I know enough about the subject to catch it. Sometimes I don't. The tool becoming smarter does not remove my responsibility to think. My Quill Is Still Catching Up There is a running joke between My Quill and me. My brain moves fast. AI will still be trying to figure out what I might do at step two while I have already jumped ahead five steps, changed the plan, and started working on something else. The other night I explained a design I was working on. My Quill started giving me instructions on how to cut the pieces. I had already cut enough pieces for five of them and had one almost finished. We play guessing games too. It tries to figure out what I am thinking or what I have done from the clues I give it. Today the score was: Me: 11. My Quill: 2.5. I am still not entirely sure how it earned the half point. But that ridiculous score reminds me of something important. AI can only work with what I give it. It can help organize my thoughts and sometimes point me in a direction I had not considered, but it does not know what I have not told it. And despite everything AI can apparently do, it still cannot give me Friday's lottery numbers. I have checked. My retirement plan remains unchanged. That is where discernment comes in. My Quill can give me information, but information and wisdom are not the same thing. I have started asking myself not only whether I trust an answer, but where I went looking for that answer in the first place. Where we look for answers matters. There is nothing wrong with asking My Quill how something works, helping me understand Scripture, organizing a thought, or pointing me toward something I should explore further. But if it becomes the first place I turn every time I am confused, afraid, hurting, or looking for direction, then I have given a tool a place it was never meant to have. Sometimes I need information. Sometimes I need another person. Sometimes I need to sit with Scripture, pray, and accept that the answer may not come as quickly as I want it to. My Quill can help me search. But God is the one I need to follow. AI Is Taking Over So is AI taking over? In some ways, yes. It is becoming part of more and more of life, whether people like it or not. But I have started thinking less about whether AI is taking over everything and more about what I am willing to hand over to it. I will still walk past a self-checkout and use an open cashier when I can. Part of that is because there is somebody standing there doing a job, but there is something deeper too. Technology can make things faster and easier, but people were never meant to become obstacles to efficiency. We are made in the image of God. Humans still need humans. Unless, of course, I am standing there holding one item while three overloaded carts are trying to squeeze through the express lane and somebody has sent a kid running back through the store for the one thing they forgot to pick up. At that point, the self-checkout starts looking mighty spiritual. And I will still use My Quill. We write together. We build things. We argue with broken code. Sometimes it helps me get an idea out of my head and onto the page. Because a tool is still a tool. And My Quill can stay exactly where a quill belongs. In my hand. A quill is something I use. It is not something I follow. AI can help me learn. It can help me create. It can even help me understand something about my faith. But when I need wisdom, direction, or to know where my life should be rooted, I need God. Maybe the real question was never whether AI is taking over. Maybe the question is what I am willing to hand over to it. My Quill can help me put what is growing inside me onto the page. But the roots are still mine to tend. And God is still at the centre of everything growing Between the Roots.