Conversations about artificial intelligence (AI) often carry an undercurrent of awe and anxiety. As one writer recently put it:
“The AGI [artificial general intelligence] race has begun. We are building machines that can think and reason. By 2025/26, these machines will outpace many college graduates. By the end of the decade, they will be smarter than you or I; we will have superintelligence, in the true sense of the word.”
Thus begins Leopold Aschenbrenner’s widely discussed essay, “Situational Awareness.” In this sensational and detailed essay, the former OpenAI researcher warns of an approaching day when AI will surpass human intelligence. He frames the situation as a race between humans and machines.
Aschenbrenner defines superintelligence as, “AI systems vastly smarter than humans, capable of novel, creative, complicated behavior we couldn’t even begin to understand.” This statement is bold, challenging, and somewhat alarming. But is it a holistic perspective? Would a so-called superintelligence be greater than a human being? I think this comparison misses something crucial.
AI and Humanity
Whether or not you accept Aschenbrenner’s predictions, his essay raises an important question: Can a machine be the same as humanity?
When we think about Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok, it’s easy to start comparing ourselves to them. We may even test ourselves against the models. One educator recently asked ChatGPT to write a drama curriculum to see how it would compete with her own. When a friend asked, “Could it do it?” she replied, “Yes, it could. Sadly, I am out of a job now.”
Thankfully, this teacher is not out of a job. She has a full class of students at HSLDA Online Academy. But her response reflects a common anxiety: that one day humanity will be obsolete, just like last year’s iPhone model. These are real fears, but perhaps they miss the full picture.
Is AI Smarter than Humans?
When we compare humanity to AI, we often focus narrowly on information processing. In that realm, machines are vastly more efficient. For example, if you ask an LLM to analyze 10,000 records of data, the LLM will be much faster, and maybe even more accurate, than a human analyst.
But humans are so much more than information processors. We are embodied beings who live in time, who form relationships, who feel emotions, who appreciate beauty, and who can sense and know a loving Creator.
Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that, “[God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20, ESV). In other words, humans have a unique, God-given capacity to perceive the Divine through creation—something that no machine can ever detect.
Pat Gelsinger, a committed Christian and Executive Chair of Gloo, offers a balanced view: he has said that while AI can replace humans, it should never replace the human experience. In other words, the way we experience the world—in time, embodied, rationally—is uniquely human. Only humans can experience the joy of eating ice cream, hearing a friend’s voice, or receiving a hug from a loving parent. Only humans can stand in awe of nature’s beauty or be moved by Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or Monet’s Water Lilies.
Our Place in an AI World
The next time you read a sensational headline about AI, remember that you’re something more wonderful, more complex, and more eternal than any machine could ever be. You are God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), and you will never be obsolete.
Ultimately, machines can’t compete with our eternal souls. To paraphrase Paul, neither AI present nor AI to come “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, ESV).
