The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) challenges us to re-examine not only the tools we build but our human nature. At the recent Advent Evening of Reflection in Ignatius Hall, Fr. John Brown, S.J., offered a deep exploration of AI’s capabilities, and limits, but most importantly the spiritual challenges it presents. He reminded us that though AI is neither our master nor our ultimate hope. Rather, God — the eternal “I AM” — remains the foundation of our being and the source of true transformation.

AI excels at processing vast amounts of data, predicting what comes next based on human knowledge encoded in massive libraries of text, images, and music. It is fundamentally statistical, operating through predictive modeling without understanding, consciousness, or an interior life.

AI can imitate human behavior and creative outputs impressively; it can even surpass human capabilities at structured tasks. Yet, it fundamentally lacks what humans possess: true understanding, a mind united with reality, and the ability to participate in God’s Truth. Fr. Brown drew on a classical philosophical tradition, reflecting on how the human mind unites with truth in a way that no machine can. He emphasized the difference between “ratio,” or step-by-step reasoning that AI can replicate, and “intellectus,” the immediate grasping of truth that transforms the knower. “AI can imitate thought, but it doesn’t understand anything,” he said.

A Warning from Our History and Faith

Our cultural imagination abounds with stories warning against becoming enslaved by our creations: the Tower of Babel’s hubris, the Golem’s rebellion against its creator, Frankenstein’s monster claiming mastery over its maker, and Terminator’s destructive machines. These narratives illustrate the profound danger of forgetting that God is our Creator. Fr. Brown explains, “If we try to take God out, thinking we don’t need Him anymore, if we say ‘we can build this on our own,’ that is the beast of Revelation 666—the false power that would rule without God.” This echoes the biblical reminder that we were made in God’s image and likeness, destined to be united with Him through knowledge, love, and hope.

Rather than fearing AI outright, Fr. Brown encouraged the community to cultivate what makes us genuinely human: our capacity for love, justice, beauty, and most profoundly, the ability to know God and be transformed by Him. He challenged listeners to be “smarter than the herd” to recognize AI’s inevitable mistakes and to be “willing to stand countercultural truths when the majority is wrong.”

“If you place your hope in tools, you will fall short. But hope in the Lord is an anchor that holds through stormy seas.”

Fr. Brown, S.J.

Living the Advent Call: Watching, Waiting, Hoping

Fr. Brown also beautifully compared the season of Advent to the posture we ought to have amid the uncertain future AI brings. The shepherds and wise men recognized the coming of Christ because they watched and waited expectantly. Likewise, we are called not to passive resignation but vigilant hope — to watch for God’s ongoing revelation in our lives.

Artificial intelligence is a powerful gift built from human creativity, but it is a tool. Our true mastery does not come from machines, but from our relationship with God. As Fr. Brown reminds us, we must anchor ourselves in the divine,”God is the God of being… The most important thing our intellect can ever grasp is the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Fr. Brown’s thoughtful engagement with AI exemplifies the depth of wisdom Jesuit hopes to inspire in its students and alumni as they prepare to face the challenges of the contemporary world.