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Staying Human in the Age of AI

October 7, 2026 · Jon Noyes

Leader preparation · 2–3 minutes

Your aim for this conversation

Read Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:18–20, Genesis 11:1–9 and John 1:14. Jon built the talk on them.

The aim is for each person to see where AI is already shaping them, and to choose real wisdom, real people and the real Jesus over the copies.

Questions 3 to 5 were asked in the Think Biblically question time, which Austin Axen moderated. Let the group answer first; Jon's answers are in the leader notes, to share after.

Timing plan

45 minutes

Opening
4
Passage
5
Questions
24
Application
7
Prayer
5

Total · 45 minutes

The Big Idea

Our worth comes from bearing God's image, not from what we can do, so we use AI as a spotter, not a substitute, and look to Jesus, the real thing every counterfeit copies.

Remember the message

Sermon reminders

01

What Does It Mean to Be Human?

Our value is not a list of things we can do better than a machine. We bear God's image, a gift no machine can earn or imitate.

02

Counterfeit Mind

AI offers information without wisdom. Use it like a spotter, not a substitute, and do your own reps.

03

Counterfeit Person

AI companions offer closeness without commitment. Real people require patience, forgiveness and sacrifice, and that is what builds us.

04

Counterfeit Savior (Transhumanism)

Transhumanism hopes to upgrade people into gods. As at Babel, God judges not the bricks but the project.

05

The Real Thing: Jesus

Jesus is the real thing every counterfeit copies. God became man, and he offers not an upgrade but a resurrection.

Wednesday’s conversation

Reflect & discuss

Read Genesis 1:27 together.

1

Proverbs 4:7 · Essential · 4 minutes

Spotter or substitute

Jon said to use AI "like a spotter, not a substitute." Where has a tool, AI or any other, helped you do your own work, and where has it started doing the work for you?

Leader notes

Follow-ups to have ready

  • What is one task you would not hand over, even if a machine could do it better? Why that one?
  • What have you learned only because you had to work it out yourself?

If it stalls

Start with something ordinary, such as a calculator, GPS or spell check. Ask what each one made easier, and what it made weaker.

2

Genesis 2:18–20 · Essential · 5 minutes

The commitment is the point

Jon said AI companions promise "intimacy without any type of commitment," but "the commitment is the point." When has someone's patience or forgiveness, at a cost to them, shaped you in a way no app could, and how could you offer that to someone this week?

Leader notes

Follow-ups to have ready

  • Jon said real people interrupt, misunderstand and disagree with us. Which of those is hardest for you to bear, and what has it taught you?
  • Where are you tempted to choose the easier screen over the harder person?

Background you may need

  • Some in the room may be lonely, or caring for someone who is. Jon said he was not shaming anyone; keep the talk about AI companions from becoming blame.

If it stalls

Read Genesis 2:18 aloud. Ask why God's answer to the man's loneliness was another person, not something easier.

3

Essential · 5 minutes

AI and Bible study

Asked at Think Biblically: "Should we use AI in our Bible study?" What do you do now when a passage confuses you, and what has staying with a hard text given you that a quick answer would not?

Leader notes

Follow-ups to have ready

  • When has talking a passage over with another believer shown you something you missed alone?
  • What would it take for you to stay with one hard passage this week before asking anyone, or anything, else?

Background you may need

  • Jon's answer at Think Biblically: Many students now type a hard passage into ChatGPT instead of wrestling with it, and closeness to God comes through the wrestling, as it did for Jacob. Read the passage again, pray through it, check a commentary and talk it over with others; then, if you want, ask an AI tool what it thinks, but "just don't do it first." He added, "you can't microwave intimacy with God."

If it stalls

Ask what people did before AI when a passage confused them, and which of those habits they still use.

4

Genesis 11:3–4 · Optional · 5 minutes

A Tower of Babel moment?

Asked at Think Biblically: "Is this our Tower of Babel moment?" Where do you notice fear in yourself about where AI is headed, and what would living faithfully look like for you this week instead?

Leader notes

Follow-ups to have ready

  • Jon said God did not judge Babel's bricks; he judged the project. What makes a project good or bad in your own work?
  • Where do you look for meaning when news about the future feels heavy?

Background you may need

  • Jon's answer at Think Biblically: Maybe; "I don't know. I'm not pretending to know." Christians do not need to live in fear. Become informed, speak into the issue, and live by the biblical principles already given. What concerns him is not robots but people "placing their meaning in things that can't hold it up."
  • Keep the conversation on each person's own fears and faithfulness, not on predictions, politics or tech leaders.

If it stalls

Read Genesis 11:4 aloud and ask what the builders wanted for themselves.

5

Optional · 5 minutes

Children and AI

Asked at Think Biblically: At what age should children start using AI, and how should parents guide them? What have you tried, or seen work, with the children in your life?

Leader notes

Follow-ups to have ready

  • What did your parents do about a new technology when you were young, and what would you keep or change?
  • How do the adults in a home show children what healthy use looks like?

Background you may need

  • Jon's answer at Think Biblically: He said he is still working this out in his own home. The less screen time, the better, and he sees no good reason for a nine-year-old to use ChatGPT. But children will meet AI at school and in college, so parents should introduce it on purpose and in small amounts: "inoculate, don't isolate." The card asked about children under 10.
  • Parents and grandparents may feel judged. Let people share what they have tried without ranking anyone's home.

If it stalls

Ask parents of grown children what they wish they had done about phones or TV, then ask how that applies to AI.

Carry it into the week

Next Steps

From the sermon

  • Reread Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel, and notice what God judged: not the bricks, but the project.
  • Before you hand a task to AI, ask, "Is this a spotter or a substitute?"
  • Write your own words. Don't let AI speak for you.
  • When a passage is hard, read it again, pray through it, check a commentary and talk it over with someone before you ask AI.
  • Spend time with other believers face to face, in a small group or over dinner.
  • Memorize Scripture.
  • Parents: limit screen time, and teach your children to use AI well instead of keeping them from it entirely: "inoculate, don't isolate."

Application

Before next Wednesday, have one conversation in person or by phone that you would normally have by text, and pray for that person afterward.

My notes

Close in prayer

Thank God for making us in his image, and ask him to make each of us look a little more like Jesus, loving him more and each other better.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible, © 2001 by Crossway. Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. Permissions. Prepared for this small group from the October 7, 2026 sermon; questions and applications are editorial study material.

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