Does it Matter if A.I. Dampens our Ability to Think?

Artificial Intelligence is already reshaping the lives of young Australians, but founder of Abel Movement Rev. Noddy Sharma believes we’re not having the deeper conversations we need to about its impact on how we think, relate, and grow as humans.

Key points:

In the lead up to International Youth Day on August 12, Rev. Sharma wants to use the occasion to consider the impacts of AI on young people’s spirituality, relationships and human connect.

“The understanding of what AI is doing for young people – or to young people – is a difficult one to wrap your head around,” Rev. Sharma said.

“It’s not just a tool that spits out answers like a calculator.

“AI is being made to be agentic – it’s learning the way we do.”

With mobile phones now outnumbering people on the planet, Rev. Sharma believes AI already has “everything it needs to be in every pocket, every family, every schoolroom”, but unlike past technologies, we’ve done little preparation to understand its full reach.

International Youth Day is on August 12.

One of Rev. Sharma’s biggest concerns is that AI is removing the time and struggle involved in deep learning.

“The minute we just have a society that says, ‘Right, I can spit something out for you immediately,’” Rev. Sharma said.

“That struggle, that time to let something soak into who you are, disappears completely.”

And it’s not just about knowledge, it’s about relationships too.

“We’re facing a generation that’s less able to engage in long conversations with higher emotional intelligence,” Rev. Sharma said.

“If we have a generation looking to AI for advice on how to be human, that’s a big red flag.”

“Short-form content, doom scrolling – it all lessens the ability for deeper thinking.”

Rev. Sharma points to research from the Abel Movement and McCrindle that found over 70% of Gen Z believe AI is better at solving their relationship problems than people.

“When I read that, I was like, wow,” Rev. Sharma said.

“If we have a generation looking to AI for advice on how to be human, that’s a big red flag.”

For Rev. Sharma, the struggle and wrestle of life – the things AI might help us skip – are actually the things that shape us.

“What makes a person unique is the experience, the thinking, the forming,” Rev. Sharma said.

“One of the things that makes us intrinsically human is this ongoing, lifelong conversation of growth,” Rev. Sharma said.

“It’s not clean or instant. But that’s where life is formed.”

His encouragement? Keep the wrestle. Keep the conversation.

“What makes a person unique is the experience, the thinking, the forming,” Rev. Sharma said.

“Without that, there’s no life in it.”

Feature image: CanvaPro