Despite the lucid warnings of the “Terminator” franchise, artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm.
AI is everywhere; every Google search generates a Gemini response. Multiple company sites use an AI assistant. AI has even infiltrated the arts and humanities, not to mention the strongholds of user-friendly generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek and Grok.
Since this advent of AI seems inescapable, figuring out how to use generative AI in a manner that preserves our integrity and our brains is essential.
First, let’s straighten out some terminology. AI, as we use it, is not genuine artificial intelligence. GPT-5 and the like are examples of generative AI, which rely on and are powered by large language models.
The University of Toronto explains that large language models are a category of generative AI that focus specifically on generating text, such as writing essays and summarizing documents. That is, large language models are sophisticated, word-focused algorithms fed (often copyrighted) human words and content so they can systematize the patterns of human speech and writing.
Generative AI models use that data to piece words together to mimic human communication, as an article from Skadden explains.
Simply put, generative AI is not intelligent like you and I are intelligent — it cannot replicate the creativity of a human brain. Instead, it functions using advanced algorithms such as those found in large language models to produce content. The term “generative AI” is a misnomer, as generative AI models are simply sophisticated machines and nothing more.
That being said, generative AI may be helpful when used appropriately. With the right input, it can generate in seconds what may have taken hours to manually produce, such as schedules, spreadsheets or a Photoshop job.
In addition, as ChatGPT advertises on its overview page, generative AI “writes, brainstorms, edits and explores ideas with you.” Furthermore, generative AI models such as ChatGPT and Grok, although proven to be fallible, have taken on the function of search engines.
Though it might be fun or convenient to have a generative AI write your emails or generate caricatures of yourself, generative AI usage has shown to reduce brain interconnectivity; it shrinks the brain’s overall capacity to think and engage with problems.
In 2025, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a study on how the brain reacts while using AI. The study compared cognitive engagement between subjects who used a large language model (ChatGPT) to write an essay, subjects who used a search engine to help and subjects who used only their brains.
The study found that brain connectivity was higher in groups supported by the least external assistance, with the large-language-model-assisted group having the lowest brain engagement.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the study also found that the large language model users struggled to quote their own work.
The study confirms the classic principle: use it or lose it. That is, if generative AI writes, brainstorms, edits and explores ideas with us — or for us, rather — we have outsourced our own creativity and damaged our memory.
Now, generative AI hasn’t completely taken over writing and creativity (yet). Often, ChatGPT is used as a tool, a brainstorming guide, a summarizer and an outliner of key points and takeaways.
Indeed, using generative AI solely as an assistant should be as far as generative AI usage goes.
Whatever we outsource, we will gradually lose, including the abilities to come up with ideas, problem solve, or analyze information. In my opinion, it would be better if we did away with generative AI entirely.
For thousands of years, people have been able to create and communicate without the help of a virtual assistant. Our abilities have not changed; we are still able to create without the intrusion of sophisticated algorithms. Recent heavy reliance on AI, however, is causing us to lose that desire to create.
When God made us in his image, we inherited his creative nature. In fact, when God gave instructions to Moses for the building of the tabernacle, he singled out a man, Bezalel, to spearhead the construction effort. In Exodus 31:3-4, God “filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs.”
Part and parcel with the Spirit of God is ability, intelligence, knowledge and craftsmanship — all traits that we have been gifted in Genesis 1:28 to exercise dominion over the earth. Our creative endeavors ought to reflect gratitude and respect for the imaginative abilities God has given us, and we should pause before so quickly letting something else steal that privilege away.
So, next time you find yourself tempted to use a generative AI, even for a quick search or summary, please reconsider.
Rath is a copy editor for the Liberty Champion.