Counselor, might AI take your job?
Sure.
That may sound scary, and perhaps it must be. The AI revolution is impacting practically each sector of the workforce, particularly jobs which might be extra mental in nature. You could have seen that corporations like Amazon have included AI into their customer support, and Google has augmented their search engine with AI. Some have even fired a number of of their coders as a result of AI can do the job higher. Many are using it of their jobs to help with difficult spreadsheets and different troublesome duties. The final time know-how felt so paradigm-shifting was the web itself!
And for people who really feel protected in additional handbook work, simply wait till robotics catches up.
I haven’t tried, however I’m betting an AI might write a extra eloquent article than I’m about to. And but, although I’m no John Connor, the guts of this text is to consolation you that the reply can be no. A powerful N-O. AI can by no means take the job of caring for a soul.
However earlier than I get into the consolation, it’s prudent to stipulate extra of the issue earlier than us.
Let’s say you’re combating an issue and you’ve got two choices for counseling. The primary is a counselor who generally forgets the small print you share. Once they give recommendation, it’s hit and miss. They’ve learn lower than 100 counseling books whole of their life, and generally their suggestions doesn’t appear well-researched. They struggle onerous to not, however generally they yawn whenever you’re talking. If you share among the tremendous china of your life, it reminds them of theirs, they usually get distracted. Plus, they cost $150 an hour.
The second selection is an impeccable listener. They always remember what you share (even from a yr in the past!) and are utterly attentive whenever you communicate. Once they give recommendation, it’s tailor-made particularly to your wants and flows out of libraries of books they’ve educated on. They’re virtually all the time updated with the newest analysis. If you wish to know what the Bible says about your battle, they are going to exhaustively checklist any associated Scriptures. You’ll be able to inform they’re by no means distracted or tired of what you’re sharing. And, to high all of it off, they are going to do all of it without cost!
Sort of looks as if a no brainer, proper? AI wins that contest towards humanity each time.
You may object to this comparability by saying, “Nicely, AI can’t cry with me, maintain my hand, or hug me.” Sure, these kinds of human interplay are important. Take into account, although, that many counselees and counselors now desire video chat over in-person counseling. It received’t be very lengthy till AI can mimic lots of these emotional expressions over video. And, though it makes my dystopian science fiction senses tingle, it most likely isn’t going to be too lengthy till robotics can even copy a few of these expressions in individual as nicely.
Preloaded in our thought experiment, nonetheless, is the belief that data and consideration are crucial qualities in counseling. These are definitely important elements to caring for a soul! In any case, being a certified counselor requires being “stuffed with goodness, full of all information, and in a position to instruct [counsel] each other” (Rom. 15:14).
But there’s a lot extra to biblical counseling!
As a result of secular humanism is within the air we breathe, it’s simple to imagine a purely materials world after we consider data and a spotlight. We assume that focus is solely a capability, and that data is merely information to be transferred. However the actuality is that we stay in a world with a religious dimension; we’re embodied souls, which signifies that one thing religious occurs after we communicate to and counsel each other!
As C.S. Lewis says so nicely in The Weight of Glory, “There are not any abnormal individuals. You might have by no means talked to a mere mortal.”[1] Every one among our everlasting destinies is to both grow to be a creature of intense magnificence, or one thing out of a nightmare. Our counsel is religious work, calling misplaced souls to enter the dominion of sunshine, and therapeutic the wounded and struggling souls of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our job is materials and earthly, but deeply entwined in eternal realities.
Christian, what’s our biggest want? There are various competing reality claims in counseling! Is our biggest have to fill our leaky love tanks? To get our self-talk good? To assemble one of the best sorts of boundaries in {our relationships}? For our partner to talk our love language fluently? AI is on the mercy of the presuppositions of its coders, so it’s going to mirror their assumptions in regards to the nature of our wants, in addition to the assumptions of the information base from which it attracts. Although there could be some sensible observations in these approaches to understanding human wants, they don’t contact on what we most want in our lives.
Our biggest want is Jesus Christ! We come empty-handed and obtain new life in Him. We discover relaxation for our souls. As we develop in religious maturity, we more and more see how Christ provides us what we want in all our struggles and sins. Jesus Christ have to be the inspiration for any lasting coronary heart change–He’s way over a mere data switch!
Then there’s the fact of the church. “For the place two or three are gathered collectively in my identify, I’m there amongst them” (Matt. 18:20). We should additionally think about the bond of the Spirit, of what it means to do life collectively. I’m not about to rewrite Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s glorious e book, however think about James 5:16a “[C]onfess your sins to at least one one other and pray for each other, so that you could be be healed.” No machine or program can do that. If we would like therapeutic for our biggest drawback, our sin, we should embrace the fact that we stay in a religious world. Christ calls us to be in group with one another and share the burden of our sins and sufferings with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
The final word reply isn’t any, a biblical counselor can’t be changed by AI.
For all of AI’s sophistication, it’s nonetheless a software, not an individual made within the picture of God. I bear in mind as soon as listening to Ed Welch level out {that a} characteristic of being a picture bearer is knowledge, and a part of knowledge, in keeping with Hebrews 5:14, includes rising in discernment between proper and fallacious.
AI has boundless information, however no knowledge. That’s for the youngsters of man, and at its greatest inside the kids of God. Those that are sensible will use AI nicely. Whereas AI presents many risks, there’s grand alternative in it. We must always all think about the way to correctly use this highly effective software in our care of souls.
Whereas I’m not apprehensive about job safety, the capabilities of AI must be a warning to us as we additionally think about its alternatives. Has our counseling grow to be chilly and distant? Are we too advice-focused? Have we been too reliant on methods and novelty as a substitute of leaning into prayer? Brothers and sisters, allow us to always remember that one of the best we ever have to supply individuals is God and His Phrase.
Questions for Reflection
- What are the uniquely human and religious elements of biblical counseling?
- What are some sensible methods to make use of AI in biblical counseling?
- How can we guard towards successfully turning into no totally different than AI in our counseling?
[1] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2001).
