Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins, but it may also be one of the least talked about. Our generation has almost reduced laziness to a joke. AI may force us to think about it differently. Artificial intelligence can already write, research, analyze data, create images, build software, and accomplish in seconds tasks that once required hours
That raises an uncomfortable question: What happens to human beings when technology removes the need for us to struggle?
There is a well-known saying my mother has repeated to me: “Hard times create strong people. Strong people create easy times. Easy times create weak people. And weak people create hard times.” The original version is generally attributed to author G. Michael Hopf
Difficulty develops discipline, perseverance, creativity, patience, and courage. AI promises to make life easier. But is easier always better?
Technology has replaced human labor before. Machines transformed farming. Factories automated manufacturing. Computers eliminated repetitive tasks. AI is different because it is beginning to automate something we once believed belonged uniquely to us: thinking!
If AI writes the paper, conducts the research, analyzes the numbers, and eventually performs entire categories of jobs, what happens to the person who once had to learn those skills? The danger isn’t simply unemployment
The greater danger may be atrophy. A muscle that is never exercised becomes weaker. Why should we assume the human mind or character is any different?
The future will reward those who build, understand, and govern AI. It will still need people who work in the physical world like electricians, mechanics, construction workers, ranchers, technicians, and others whose work cannot simply disappear into a computer
And there may be an enormous advantage for unconventional thinkers. People with ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and other neurological differences often approach problems differently
When machines can produce conventional answers instantly, imagining something entirely new may become more valuable than ever. Perhaps the biggest divide won’t be between people who have AI and people who don’t
It will be between people who use AI to become more capable and people who allow it to make them less capable.One person will use AI to learn faster, create businesses, solve problems, and accomplish things previously impossible. Another may use it to avoid reading, writing, learning, working, and eventually even thinking
That is where sloth enters the conversation. AI could become one of humanity’s greatest tools, or our greatest excuse for surrendering to comfort. We must actively fight that temptation. Just because technology makes effort unnecessary does not make effort worthless
We should still read, learn, build, exercise, create, work hard, and pursue difficult things. In fact, as technology makes life easier, we may need to become more intentional about choosing challenges
Humanity has faced technological revolutions before. Electricity, automobiles, computers, and the internet eliminated some jobs while creating others we could never have imagined. We adapted. And we will adapt again
Most importantly, our hope should never rest in an economy, a career, or a technology. Our responsibility is to use the gifts He has given us to work, create, serve, learn, persevere, and adapt
AI doesn’t have to make humanity lazy. Used wisely, it could free us to spend more time inventing, creating, serving others, strengthening our families, pursuing our faith, and solving problems we once lacked the time to address
So I plan to embrace AI. Learn it. Use it. Build with it. But I also plan to fight the temptation to let convenience make me complacent. And I hope you’ll join me
Let’s keep reading. Keep learning. Keep working. Keep creating. Keep choosing to do difficult things, even when technology tells us we no longer have to. Let’s teach the next generation that efficiency is a tool, not the purpose of life, and that struggle is not always something to escape
Place your hope in God. Use the tools before you. And adapt, as humanity always has
AI may create easier times. But together, we can choose not to become weaker people
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Future Voices is a Sunday-morning column in The Dallas Express in which young Texans share how faith and perseverance shape their lives. These stories remind readers that God often speaks through the honesty and courage of the next generation
