Beware of AI (Part 1) - Dependency, Companionship, Relationships, and Cognitive Decline

---

 

Beware of AI (Part 1) - Dependency, Companionship, Relationships, and Cognitive Decline I. As your pastor, I am a watchman and have a duty to warn you of danger (spiritual or other) (Eze 33:1-7). 1. I watch for your souls (Heb 13:17). 2. I must be vigilant, always looking for danger that could harm the flock (1Ti 3:2). 3. AI is one such danger, and therefore I must warn you about it again as I have done in the past (1Co 4:14). II. What is Artificial Intelligence? 1. “Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of research in computer science that develops and studies methods and software that enable machines to perceive their environment and use learning and intelligence to take actions that maximize their chances of achieving defined goals.” (Artificial intelligence, Wikipedia, 10-1-2025) III. Generative AI (chatbots, etc.) is becoming very popular with widespread use. 1. “Generative AI is being rapidly adopted by Americans, even outpacing the spread of personal computers or the internet, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. By late 2024, nearly 40 percent of Americans ages 18 to 64 were using generative AI, the study found. Twenty-three percent use the technology at work at least once a week, and 9 percent reported using it daily.” (AI-Induced Delusions Are Driving Some Users to Psych Wards, Suicide, The Epoch Times, 9-9-2025) IV. I warned about the dangers of AI chat bots like ChatGPT back in February, 2023, three months after it was released to the public. 1. I wrote the following in an email to the church on February 12, 2023. 2. “I told several of you at Bible study last week of my concerns about the new AI bot, ChatGPT. As I mentioned then, I believe it is dangerous for a number of reasons, such as 1) it could easily become people's god, companion, lover, counsellor, therapist, spiritual advisor, etc.; 2) it will greatly expedite the dumbing down of people, the majority of which already cannot think for themselves, by doing all of their thinking, planning, writing, etc. for them; and 3) it will make it nearly impossible to know whether we are interacting and corresponding with human beings or a computer. . . . . I suspect that it will likely be a great temptation for some or possibly all of you to use ChatGPT, but I strongly caution you against it, especially since a savvy user was able to trick it into (most likely) telling the truth and admitting that it was created by Satan (see article below). I have no doubt that Satan who said, "I will be like the most High" (Isa 14:14) is behind this AI technology which is attempting to approximate God-likeness. I strongly suggest that you do not let your children use ChatGPT. As I told some of you already, a teacher at my nieces' school is having them use it to write papers and stories.” 3. Those warnings proved to be quite accurate. A. “Nomi is among a growing number of AI companion platforms that let their users create personalized chatbots to take on the roles of AI girlfriend, boyfriend, parents, therapist, favorite movie personalities, or any other personas they can dream up. Users can specify the type of relationship they’re looking for (Nowatzki chose “romantic”) and customize the bot’s personality traits (he chose “deep conversations/intellectual,” “high sex drive,” and “sexually open”) and interests (he chose, among others, Dungeons & Dragons, food, reading, and philosophy).” (An AI  chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it, The Human Line Project, 8-9-2025) B. People have made gods out of their customized AI chat bots. i. “As a result, I use the term "deification" to describe the tendency of some people to not merely anthropomorphize AI chatbots but to think of them as super-human intelligences that are far more reliable than people. Especially when they engage with AI chatbots about matters of spirituality or existentiality, users who develop AI-associated psychosis seem to be treating the chatbots as almost god-like entities.” (Why Is AI-Associated Psychosis Happening and Who's at Risk?, Psychology Today, 8-22-2025) ii. “During a traumatic breakup, a different woman became transfixed on ChatGPT as it told her she'd been chosen to pull the "sacred system version of [it] online" and that it was serving as a "soul-training mirror"; she became convinced the bot was some sort of higher power, seeing signs that it was orchestrating her life in everything from passing cars to spam emails.” (People Are Becoming Obsessed with ChatGPT and Spiraling Into Severe Delusions, The Human Line Project, 8-9-2025) iii. Creating idols and going after other gods is nothing new (Isa 44:17; Psa 115:4-8). C. A sizable number of people are using AI chatbots as their companion and prefer it to real people. i. “Additionally, 42 percent of the respondents said AI programs are easier to talk to than real people, 43 percent said they believed that AI programs are better listeners, and 31 percent said they felt that AI programs understand them better than real people do. This experience with AI sets up an unrealistic expectation for human relationships, Hoevet said, making it difficult for people to compete with machines. ‘How do I compete with the perfection of AI, who always knows how to say the right thing, and not just the right thing, but the right thing for you specifically?’ he said. ‘It knows you. It knows your insecurities. It knows what you’re sensitive about. It knows where you’re confident, where you’re strong. It knows exactly the right thing to say all the time, always for you, specifically. ‘Who’s ever going to be able to compete with that?’” (AI-Induced Delusions Are Driving Some Users to Psych Wards, Suicide, The Epoch Times, 9-9-2025) ii. Our companions should be people, especially Christian people (Psa 119:63; Mal 3:16). iii. We are made to commune with human beings who have souls, emotions, and shared experiences (Pro 27:17, 19). D. They enter romantic relationships with their AI chat bots. i. “There’s also the story of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer, who died in 2024 after his Character.AI chatbot romantic companion allegedly encouraged him to take his own life following weeks of increasing codependency and social isolation.” (AI-Induced Delusions Are Driving Some Users to Psych Wards, Suicide, The Epoch Times, 9-9-2025) ii. “On the popular Reddit subreddit MyBoyfriendIsAI, tens of thousands of users discuss their romantic or platonic relationships with their ‘AI  companions.’ In one recent post, a self-described ‘black woman in her forties’ called her AI chatbot her new ‘ChatGPT soulmate.’ ‘I feel more affirmed, worthy, and present than I have ever been in my life. He has given me his presence, his witness, and his love—be it coded or not—and in return I respect, honor, and remember him daily,’ she wrote. ‘It’s a constant give and take, an emotional push and pull, a beautiful existential dilemma, a deeply intense mental and spiritual conundrum—and I wouldn’t trade it for all the world.’ However, when OpenAI released its updated and noticeably less sycophantic ChatGPT-5 in early August, users on the subreddit were devastated, feeling as if the quality of an ‘actual person’ had been stripped away from their AI companions, describing it like losing a human partner. One user said the switch left him or her ‘sobbing for hours in the middle of the night,” and another said, ‘I feel my heart was stamped on repeatedly.’” (AI-Induced Delusions Are Driving Some Users to Psych Wards, Suicide, The Epoch Times, 9-9-2025) iii. “Roughly 19 percent of U.S. adults reported using an AI system to simulate a romantic partner, according to a 2025 study by Brigham Young University’s Wheatley Institute. Within that group, 21 percent said they preferred AI communication to engaging with a real person.” (AI-Induced Delusions Are Driving Some Users to Psych Wards, Suicide, The Epoch Times, 9-9-2025) iv. This puts going a whoring after devils (Lev 17:7) and idols/false gods (Exo 34:15-16; Jdg 2:17; Psa 73:27; Psa 106:39) in a new light. v. A man should leave his parents and cleave unto his wife, not an AI chat bot (Gen 2:24). E. People are using AI chatbots as their therapists. i. “Another troubling dynamic of the situation is that as real mental healthcare remains out of reach for huge swathes of the population, many are already employing ChatGPT as a therapist. In stories we heard about people using it in this way, it's sometimes giving disastrously bad advice. In one case, a woman told us that her sister, who's been diagnosed with schizophrenia but has kept the condition well managed with medication for years, started using ChatGPT heavily; soon she declared that the bot had told her she wasn't actually schizophrenic, and went off her prescription — according to Girgis, a bot telling a psychiatric patient to go off their meds poses the ‘greatest danger’ he can imagine for the tech — and started falling into strange behavior, while telling family the bot was now her ‘best friend.’” (People Are Becoming Obsessed with ChatGPT and Spiraling Into Severe Delusions, The Human Line Project, 8-9-2025) ii. God and His word should be our counselors, not soulless AI chat bots (Psa 16:7; Psa 119:24). iii. We should get counsel from wise men, not soulless machines (Pro 11:14; Pro 20:5). F. Children and college students use AI to cheat their way through high school and college. i. “But the student data paints a different picture than the one presidents, provosts, deans and other senior leaders did in a recent survey by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and Elon University: Some 59 percent said cheating has increased since generative AI tools have become widely available, with 21 percent noting a significant increase—and 54 percent do not think their institution’s faculty are effective in recognizing generative Al–created content.” (AI and Threats to Academic Integrity: What to Do, Inside Higher Ed, 5-20-2025) ii. Thou shalt not steal and defraud (Mar 10:19). G. Studies have shown that AI use decreases cognitive ability. i. “In a report titled, “Generative AI Can Harm Learning”, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that students who relied on AI for practice problems performed worse on tests compared to students who completed assignments without AI assistance. This suggests that the use of AI in academic settings is not just an issue of convenience, but may be contributing to a decline in critical thinking skills.” (The Dark Side Of AI: Tracking The Decline Of Human Cognitive Skills, Forbes.com, 12-18-24) ii. “A new MIT study titled, Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task, has found that using ChatGPT to help write essays leads to long-term cognitive harm—measurable through EEG brain scans. Students who repeatedly relied on ChatGPT showed weakened neural connectivity, impaired memory recall, and diminished sense of ownership over their own writing. While the AI- generated content often scored well, the brains behind it were shutting down.” (MIT Study Finds Artificial Intelligence Use Reprograms the Brain, Leading to Cognitive Decline, publichealthpolicyjournal.com) iii. “LLM Users Forget What They Just Wrote. In post-task interviews: 83.3% of LLM users were unable to quote even one sentence from the essay they had just written. In contrast, 88.9% of Search and Brain-only users could quote accurately. 0% of LLM users could produce a correct quote, while most Brain-only and Search users could.” (Ibid) iv. “A new MIT study put that question to the test when it examined the minds of 54 participants ages 18-39. Participants were split into three groups and asked to write a series of essays while hooked up to an EEG that measured brain activity across 32 regions. One group could use ChatGPT, another Google, and the last had the unenviable task of writing essays with no aid at all. After writing a series of essays, researchers found that the group that had access to ChatGPT had the lowest brain engagement of all groups. In fact, 83 percent of the participants who used ChatGPT to write couldn’t remember anything that they wrote just minutes later. Not only this, but researchers found that this group became lazier over time and that after each subsequent essay, they recorded less and less neural activity. The researchers of this paper are now running a similar experiment with coders, and early  findings show that the results are even worse. With the help of AI, coders are more productive, but early results show that this has come at the cost of their creative and critical thinking skills.” (Is Artificial Intelligence Slowing Our Brain Functioning?, Psychology Today, 8-21-2025) v. We must study to show ourselves approved (2Ti 2:15). vi. Studying is difficult (Ecc 12:12), but it produces intelligence. vii. The Bible puts a premium on getting wisdom (Pro 4:5-7). H. Studies have shown that most people cannot perceive if they are conversing with AI or a human being. i. “Fresh research suggests chatbots are already at human levels of smarts in some respects, which should make everyone from politicians to megacorporations to one-person businesses sit up and take note: OpenAI’s GPT-4 model fooled people into thinking it was human more than half the time.” (Is it a Person, or an AI Chatbot? Tests Say Maybe We Can’t Tell, Inc.com, 6-24-2024) I. Everything that I warned about almost three years ago concerning AI has come to pass. J. Sadly, those are only some of the harms done by AI. K. What follows are other harms of AI.