Supplanted.
You will hear the word more often, so here’s a clear definition: To supplant is to replace one thing with another, often through technology.
Here’s an example in context: The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that 92 million jobs globally will be supplanted by artificial intelligence (AI) by 2030.
The research is disconcerting. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study found that AI can currently supplant U.S. labor to the equivalent of $1.2 trillion in wages, and that 23.5% of U.S. companies have already supplanted workers with ChatGPT or similar AI tools.
You say it would never happen?
But more troubling than AI supplanting you in your job is the reality of you supplanting God with AI. You say it would never happen? Remember, the Apostle Peter adamantly said he’d never deny Christ.
Here’s how subtly supplanting God with AI can happen.
I recently dealt with an interpersonal conflict for which I needed wisdom, so I turned to Proverbs 9:10: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” What better way to deal with an issue than to begin by seeking the wisdom of God?
Who are you asking for wisdom?
I turned to pour my coffee, and when I turned back to my Bible, my phone caught my attention. I picked it up, opened one of my AI apps, and began typing a prompt: “What is the best approach to resolve conflict with a difficult person who …” And I stopped. Immediately. I put the phone down and pushed away from my desk. A thought struck like lightning across a night sky: “You’re asking AI for wisdom when you should be asking God.”
I didn’t finish the prompt.
It’s no consolation, but I’m not alone. The number of people seeking spiritual insight from AI chatbots is growing. A 2025 Barna study found that 30% of adults agree that spiritual advice from AI is as trustworthy as advice from a pastor. Among Gen Z and millennials, that number jumps to 40%.
Tens of millions of people are confessing their spiritual secrets to AI chatbots. The bots function like on-call pastors, priests, imams, or rabbis. Some platforms even purport to channel God.
The danger, as one technology and religion professor put it, is that “chatbots tell us what we want to hear. It’s not using spiritual discernment; it is using data and patterns.”
Common questions
The questions people are asking carry deep spiritual significance. Five of the top 10 most common are:
• What is my purpose?
• Why am I suffering?
• Am I loved? Do I matter?
• How do I find peace?
• What happens when I die?
The reality of AI in a spiritual context demands our attention, but we should stop short of demonizing it. It’s worth asking whether one reason people are turning to AI is that they aren’t getting their questions answered in church, or by Christian friends or a family member. There are legitimate ways AI can serve the church well — sermon research, language translation, Bible study tools, and church administration, to name a few.
Keeping AI in its proper place
So how do we keep AI in its proper place so that it does not supplant God?
One way is for pastors to address it. They don’t have to be tech experts, but they need to be aware of how deeply AI has embedded itself in our culture, especially among younger generations.
A pastor communicating the concern of taking big life questions to AI before taking them to God may be the awareness some people didn’t know they needed.
Another way is for churches to strengthen discipleship by teaching people how to seek God.
Praying through hard questions
Many reach for AI because they were never taught how to pray through a hard question, sit with Scripture, or wait on God when the answer doesn’t come quickly. The solution is spiritual formation, not just information.
A third way is strengthening relationships so that difficult questions have an environment in which they can be asked. One practical approach: simply ask people, “Who here uses AI to answer spiritual questions?” Or, “If you could ask AI a tough spiritual question, what would you ask?” Let the responses be a gateway to discipleship and deeper conversation.
Engaging AI returns information based on an algorithm. Engaging God cultivates a relationship — He communicates with us through His Word and the Holy Spirit, not through a prompt window.
Using AI as a tool to assist in spiritual growth has benefits, but be careful that it doesn’t become your artificial god.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This article was written by editor Chris Turner and originally published by Tennessee’s Baptist and Reflector.
