As Profit as Purpose led to the manufacturing of many products being moved from the United States to other countries for less expensive labor, some manufacturers differentiated their products with a “Made in the U.S.A.” label, or even “Proudly Made in the U.S.A.” That label carried meaning beyond origin. For some consumers, paying a bit more for that label was a nod to quality, whether or not deserved.  For others, it was an act of patriotism.

As AI and robotics make it cost-efficient to replace human labor, and Profit as Purpose drives increased replacement, will we come to a time when a differentiating label is “Proudly Created by Humans”?  Would people pay a bit more for that label—as a nod to quality (whether or not deserved) or as an act of humanity?

More importantly, how should faithful leaders think about these developments and potential consequences in their pursuit of faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing?

The Inspiration

This past weekend was the second Faith & Veritas event held at Harvard University (the first was in 2023).  It is “a university-wide gathering of Harvard’s Christian Alumni” to be held every three years. 700 students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered for three days under a theme of “Standing in the Gap.”

Faith & Veritas was an extraordinary event organized by the Harvard Law School Program on Biblical Law and Christian Legal Studies. The fact that such a program even exists at Harvard is itself extraordinary and even supernatural.

As you might expect, AI was addressed in several of the presentations and discussions, but one in particular inspired this post.  It happened on Saturday morning during a panel skillfully moderated by Cherie Harder of the Trinity Forum and consisting of David French, opinion columnist at The New York Times, Professor Robert George of Princeton University, and Dr. Nicole Massie Martin, President and CEO of Christianity Today.

Professor George recounted a conversation about AI with a very wealthy businessman.  The businessman gleefully predicted that AI could one day free people from the need to work. When George asked him how they would get money to buy anything AI created, the businessman told him the government would be able to provide an income to everyone.  The sense from the story was that the businessman saw this as a wonderful result.

George reported that he was troubled by that idea. He was troubled enough to share it—and we were troubled enough to write this post.

Not Needing to Work–Blessing or Curse?

SPOILER ALERT: Curse . . . unless.

Blessing?

Before explaining why we believe the utopia envisioned by the businessman is a curse, it is useful to explore why he probably thought it was a blessing.  We suspect his euphoria was a natural extension of the heart of business as usual and the deception of “work/life balance.”

Business as Usual. At the heart of business as usual–business in the way of the kingdom of the world–is Profit as Purpose.  Profit as Purpose is the idea that the primary or sole purpose of a business is the maximization of financial profit for the benefit of shareholders.  As we explained in post #013 (Business as Usual-Profit as Purpose), it is often referred to as the “shareholder primacy” model, and it has been predominant for the last several decades in America.

The increased use of technology–in this case AI and robotics–to replace as much human labor as possible is a logical and natural extension of Profit as Purpose because it promises cost reduction and production efficiency.  From the legend of John Henry and the steam drill to modern automation, the impulse is the same.

It is hardly a surprise that the wealthy businessman saw AI and robotics replacing all human work as good for business and something to be celebrated.

This is an important moment for a reminder.  Profit is not bad, just as money is not the root of all evil.  It is the love of money that the Bible tells us is the root of all evil.  Like money, profit becomes bad when it moves from being a tool to being an idol.

Perhaps the most consistent theme over the last 321 posts is that profit becomes a problem when it becomes the purpose of a business.  Back in post #017 (“Profit” Problems), we explained the key problems created by Profit as Purpose that contribute to the brokenness of business as usual.

“Work/Life Balance.” The wealthy businessman’s response is also a logical and natural extension of our cultural obsession with “work/life balance.”  If less work is better for life, then no work must be utopia.  We addressed the problem with this logic from a Biblical perspective in post #114 (Words that Shape Work) and in our post on “retirement” (#176–Words that Shape Act III: Eliminate “Retirement”).

In the kingdom of the world, various words and phrases keep drumming into people’s heads that work is separate from life, and that our “life” goals should be to “work” as little as possible and stop working as soon as possible.  Consider phrases like:

“Work-Life Balance”

“TGIF”

“Monday Morning Blues”

“Work To Live”

“Well-Earned Retirement”

These phrases don’t just describe our culture—they shape it.

Is it any wonder that people long to “retire” and spend their remaining years as far from work as possible?  Seeing work as opposed to life leads to the idolization of “retirement”–a freedom from work and a well-earned ability to “live” and stop “working.”  The wealthy businessman’s reaction flows naturally.

Curse

Many of our past posts hold the answer to why we think the businessman’s scenario is a curse rather than a blessing.  It goes back to the nature of work and what it means to be “human,” all from a Biblical perspective.

Nature of Work. In prior posts we have explained why “work” as God designed and intended it is meant to be a blessing. Work is not just something we do—it is part of who we are as image-bearers of a creative, productive God.

Work is Good (post #048 Lessons from Creation–Work Is Good).  God created work before the Fall.  In Genesis 2:15, we learn “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.“

Work is Necessary for Creation (post #049 Lessons from Creation–Work Is Necessary). The world was actually created to need our creativity and productivity in order to flourish.  Amazingly, Genesis 2:5 tells us: “When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.”

Work is Necessary for Our Humanity (post #047 Lessons from Creation–Imago Dei).  Just as God creatively and productively worked to create all things, as God’s image-bearers it is in our very nature to be creative and productive workers.  Through the Creation Mandate in Genesis 1:28 (be fruitful and steward the earth), God commands us to work to steward and cultivate His creation.  We are more fully human when we work because it is an important aspect of how we live out Imago Dei and fulfill the Creation Mandate.

In post #171 (How the World’s “Way” Wrecks “Work”), we also explained ways in which business as usual and work as usual actually undermine key aspects of God’s design for work and for us. Because it has become all-consuming and spiritually unfulfilling, people often see work as something that keeps them from life–an oppositional force.

This feeling is reinforced by the deception of disordered words like “work/life balance” that demonize work.  The notion of “work/life balance” reinforces the lie that work is an obstacle to life. It leads us to despise what God meant as a blessing.  It tells us ceasing work is the recipe for a full life, when God designed work as essential to a full life. Although this assertion gets surprised looks, a person who professes Biblical faith should never seek “work/life balance”!

Being “Human.”  If you have been following our posts, you will know we believe one of the three bigger WHYs of business a better way is to Humanize People.  Being human is not the same as being homo sapien.  A person can be more or less Humanized.  In other words, we can live in ways that reflect God’s design—or drift away from it.

We were certainly created by God to be human–creations uniquely brought to life with divine breath (no other aspect of creation received divine breath) in the image of a creative, productive and relational God, made for a purpose and deserving of dignity and respect because we were created in God’s image.  It is “who we really are“, but not necessarily how we are living and working in broken workplaces that are part of a broken world.

Our friend Dr. Skip Moen argues that “humanness” is something we must choose to move toward in our lives:

We become human when we act as the Creator acts.

Because we were created by God to reflect God’s image through work, working actually moves us in the direction of becoming more fully human.  Consider this observation by Jeff Van Duzer:

When humans engage in creative, meaningful work that grows out of relationships and gives back to the community they become more deeply human.

Fulfilling the “work/life balance” dream by using AI and robots to free people not to work is a curse because it robs people of their humanity, unless . . .

Unless

The wealthy businessman’s utopia is a curse—unless we radically rethink what “work” means.

In the kingdom of the world, “productivity” and “provision” are inextricably bound, and “work” is something we do in exchange for money, because we “need” the money to survive and, for some, because it is a source of power and status.  In large part because business as usual has created work as usual, which is far from God’s design, work is seen as the opposite of “life,” and “life” is seen as “leisure”—the absence of work.

Not only does a world of “leisure” rob a person of their God-given purpose and the opportunity to be fully human, it robs the world (including the rest of us humans) of their God-given gifts of creativity and productivity that were meant to be used to fulfill the Creation Mandate and to live out the commandment to love others, including by “repairing” the world.

If people see work in only that narrow sense, then a world in which AI and robots simply free us for leisure is a dehumanizing curse. It is more than likely that the wealthy businessman was thinking about “work” in the narrow way that our culture has defined it—a way that does not reflect God’s design.

In God’s Kingdom, “productivity” and “provision” are decoupled.  God’s people are Humanized by being obedient to God’s commands, leaving the outcome and their provision to God.

Those commands include the avodah version of “work” that makes us fully human–work, worship, service.  It is anything we do to use our God-given gifts of creativity and productivity to fulfill the Creation Mandate or live out the commandments to love God and love our neighbor–in the words of 1 Peter “to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

In God’s Kingdom, a job or career is simply a distribution mechanism through which God fulfills His promise of provision.  A world in which AI and robots free people from “work” for provision does not extinguish the obligation of obedience to use their gifts to serve through life-fulfilling avodah “work”.

In other words, the wealthy businessman’s utopia is a curse UNLESS people understand a broader concept of “work” and turn to creative and productive activities that fit a broader Biblical concept of work—activities such as volunteering for charities, caring for aging parents, caring for grandchildren, or adding to the beauty of the world through hobbies like painting, crafts or music. It is what we called “repotting” in post #176 (Words that Shape Act III: Eliminate Retirement).

AI and WHY

Technology such as AI and robots are not inherently “evil” or even “bad”.  They can be beneficial.  The scenario painted by the wealthy businessman is a curse not because of the technology–it becomes a curse because of WHY leaders use the technology and how people understand “work” in the context of “life.”

With Profit as Purpose driving decisions, business as usual often jumps at opportunities to replace people and human connection with technology in order to cut costs and maximize profits–even when detrimental to the human flourishing of stakeholders, particularly when the cost savings are perceived to outweigh any losses from disgruntled employees, customers, or vendors.  In the wealthy businessman’s utopia, AI advances to the point that it is cost-effective and profitable to replace most (but presumably not all) workers.

As we wrote in post #151 (Integrity Idea 018: Use Tech “Whysely”), for a faithful leader pursuing faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing, technology should be used when and to the extent it increases the flourishing of God’s creation, particularly humans, or is necessary for the sustainability of the organization.

We believe AI and robots can serve an important role in bringing efficiency to business processes and transactions. They can be used to increase the flourishing of employees by helping them do their jobs more efficiently or helping them do their jobs more effectively or freeing them to focus on tasks that require their uniquely human qualities.

Technology such as AI and robots can also bring cost efficiency that allows an organization to remain competitive, which is critical to the sustainability element of faithful stewardship.  As we have said many times, profit in a business is necessary for sustainability, which means it is necessary for the Creation Mandate, which in turn means it is necessary for business in alignment with Biblical beliefs, principles, and priorities.

But even the most advanced AI can’t replace the human element and interpersonal connection of relationships–relationships with humans–whether between employees or between employees and customers or other stakeholders of the organization.  In the words of someone who knew something about science and technology:

Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them. (Steve Jobs)

Humans offer experience, which means we can offer knowledge and even some wisdom. Albert Einstein observed:

Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience. You need experience to gain wisdom.

AI and robotics may be able to mimic people enough to take over tasks, but they will never take over the elements of people that make them truly human–image bearers of their divine Creator.

Faithful Leaders and Profit

As we have explained in many posts, a faithful leader pursuing faithful integrity toward Biblical flourishing must faithfully position profit as a means rather than an end. Recognizing profit as a good and necessary tool toward a bigger WHY, a leader can focus on optimizing profit toward the maximization of that WHY.

Optimizing profit means generating the optimal level of profit to maximize the flourishing of all people touched in a way that recognizes God’s stewardship limits of Respect and Sustainability–respect for all humans God created and sustainability across all aspects of a business.  It is seeking the level of profit that brings God the most glory.

Faithful Leaders and Work

The response of the wealthy businessman points to two additional tasks of a faithful leader. One is creating a workplace of Shalom in which “work” comes much closer to God’s design as a blessing.  That is the goal of the four steps of Integriosity^®–RENEW, RE-IMAGINE, RE-ALIGN, and RESTORE.

A second is helping employees understand a bigger concept of “work” as avodah and the importance of using their God-given gifts and talents to love and serve, even if it is not for provision.

Faithful Leaders and AI

For a faithful leader, it is important to remember the WHY of an organization pursuing faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing.  An organization faithfully aligning its business with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities will seek to create with beauty by lovingly and generously serving people and stewarding all creation:

• Humanizing people through jobs that allow them to live out Imago Dei as reflections of a creative, productive, and relational God and use their God-given gifts to love their neighbor through service, all in a work culture of Shalom built on Biblical principles of relationships, community, human dignity, and flourishing.

• Creating and providing, on a sustainable basis, solutions to challenges of human life and the economic prosperity that makes those solutions affordable and accessible, enabling families, communities and the world to flourish.

• Stewarding the business, as part of creation, in a way that keeps it viable so that it can pursue its human flourishing purpose(s) long-term and, where appropriate, at greater scale.

In a world increasingly shaped by machines, faithful leaders must prayerfully discern not just what they produce, but how—and by whom. In a world of AI and robotics, the real question is not what we produce—but who we become.

Perhaps one day, the most meaningful label will not be “Made in the U.S.A.” but “Proudly Created by Humans.”

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM): Below is a link to just a minute of the praise concert that occurred at Havard’s chapel.  I could never imagine this happening in the middle of campus.

One of the more fascinating offerings at Faith & Veritas was a “Christian Legacy Tour” of Harvard.  Most people know that Harvard’s current public-facing motto is “Veritas” (Truth).  I have known for years that the official motto embossed on diplomas remains “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” (Truth for Christ and the Church) because it is on my diplomas. But I  learned that the University’s original motto was “In Christi Gloriam” (For the Glory of Christ).  I also learned that the three open books on the crest were originally two turned up and one turned down, but that was changed to all three turned up in 1843 as a shift toward the Enlightenment.

Perhaps mission drift needs to be a topic for a future post.

ESSENCE:  In a world increasingly shaped by machines, faithful leaders must prayerfully discern not just what they produce, but how—and by whom. In a world of AI and robotics, the real question is not what we produce—but who we become. As AI and robotics make it cost-efficient to replace human labor, and Profit as Purpose drives increased replacement, many people are justifiably concerned that jobs will disappear, while others see hope in people being freed from work.  God created work as a good thing and created people to work.  People are more “fully human”–more fully living out Imago Dei–when engaged in meaningful work that unleashes their God-given productivity and creativity. Without a radical rethinking of what “work” means, the replacement of people with machines will be dehumanizing to those replaced. The extent to which AI and robotics replace humans will reveal the WHY–the heart–of a business. With Profit as Purpose driving decisions, business as usual often jumps at opportunities to replace people and human connection with technology in order to cut costs and maximize profits–even when detrimental to the human flourishing of stakeholders.  For a faithful leader pursuing faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing, technology should be used only when and to the extent it increases the flourishing of God’s creation, particularly humans, or is necessary for the sustainability of the organization. Perhaps one day, the most meaningful label will not be “Proudly Made in the U.S.A.” but “Proudly Created by Humans.”

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Photo Credit: Original image Paul Michalski using Gemini AI
(photo cropped)