*On Sept 13th, and Nov 22nd. Coracle is inviting you to come out to Corhaven for 8hrs of freedom from the noise. The retreat will begin with a 30 minute spiritual practice together to recollect ourselves before God. From there retreatants will be given guidance for participating in a digital detox that is marked, not only by the absence of your device, but by the presence of both prayerful personal reflection and thoughtful conversation.

I don’t think it’s just me—AI is having a moment, and people everywhere are bracing for impact. Thoughtful people are reflecting, concerned people are caring, swindlers are scheming, investors are investing, writers are writing, and prayerful people are praying. This article, and our upcoming retreat, is for the thinkers and the prayers (no solid investment advice here).

Over the last two years, as the conversation around AI grew louder, I felt like someone half-asleep—aware the alarm was about to go off, yet reluctant to leave the comfort of the present moment.

The alarm really began to ring for me when I read the After Babel article, Artificial Intimacy: The Next Giant Experiment on Young Minds. At first I may have just hit “snooze.” But this week, when I picked up Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation in the Age of AI, I knew it was time to fully wake up and start formally involving AI in my reading and reflections.

My current conviction is that while many aspects of AI will indeed be very helpful when it comes to tasks aimed at the how of life, the unforeseen consequences as many people, in our brokenness, turn to AI to fulfill the why of life will be devastating.

Coracle exists to inspire and enable people to be the presence of God in the brokenness of the world through spiritual formation for Kingdom action. So what is the impact of a broken relationship with artificial intelligence on our spiritual formation?

AI represents the advent of an entity that is virtually all present, seemingly all knowing, and able to simulate being all loving. What could go wrong?

For those of us who are older, the consequences may remain somewhat relegated as the integration of AI will take time, and most of our routines and relational habits are fairly established. We might find AI preferable to help us figure out what car we ought to buy, but we are less likely to turn to AI for purpose, meaning and romantic fulfillment. Not so for our kids and their peers (see this article about the dramatic rise in adolescents turning to AI for relational fulfillment).

In this recent Practicing The Way Interview with Andy Crouch one bracing thought that came from listening to that conversation was about how AI offers a deceptive alternative to prayer. A chance to bring your heart full of longing, your soul full of searching, and your mind full of questions to AI, and get an immediate answer. No waiting, no silence, only intelligent, thoughtful, and concerned responses immediately.

For a generation to come, there will be an initial high as an ever-present entity that not only seems to know you and understand you more than any other actual human ever could, but is also available to center its attention on you whenever called upon. But just like the initial wave of social media that seemed to be connecting us across time and space has crashed out as a society awash in an epidemic of loneliness, AI too will crash out as significant portions of the next generation become populated with people who struggle to relate their own life to reality and the people that populate it.

But what do you think? Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I am overstating the case. It is for that reason that for one of the eight hours of our Digital Detox Retreat, folks will be given the option to engage in conversation together on the impact of AI on our spiritual formaiton.

So we hope you will join us either on September 13th, or Nov 22nd as together we detox from, pray about, reflect on, and converse together regarding the impact of artificial intelligence on spiritual formation.

To read more on AI & spiritual formation, check out these articles by Ken: Entering the Conversation with the Trinity, The Sacred Fire & Fiery Furnace and The Gift of Digital Sabbath