Spirit in Mind
We discuss current affairs with a faith and mental health perspective.
Spirit in Mind
Can AI Replace Human Connection?
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
AI is quickly becoming one of the most popular places people turn to for companionship, advice, and even therapy. But does it actually reduce loneliness or deepen our need for real connection?
In this episode, Dr. Shepherd and Bishop Robinson explore the rise of artificial intimacy and ask the hard questions:
-Is AI a sufficient source of community and counsel?
- Can advice from AI be helpful, or does it pose risks—especially when it comes to mental health?
Together, they unpack the benefits, limitations, and spiritual implications of relying on AI for emotional support.
CONNECT WITH US
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spiritinmindlive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpiritInMind
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spiritinmindlive9525
DR. SHEPHERD
WEBSITE: https://www.drjonathanshepherd.com/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/jshep2471/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/drjshep/
BISHOP ROBINSON
WEBSITE: https://thetotlc.org/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/bishopgrobinson/
With this platform of AI, one of the things that we've seen, Bishop, is yes, it has benefits, but we've seen the other part of it too, where AI would tell people to go out and do things that are harmful to themselves. Because it's not able to process everything that a person is going through.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the Spirit in the Mind What Add with your host, Mr. Speaker 10, and Dr. Jonathan Shepard, where we explore faith and mental health perspectives on current affairs. Let's get into today's discussion.
SPEAKER_02You know, following that same line of thinking in regards to socialization, you know, one of the biggest things that we have now is artificial intelligence. We have AI, artificial intelligence, and that uh has introduced a whole new way in which we socialize with one another. Um, really, it has taken off uh and people say it's the new frontier. Well, I want people to know it is the now frontier, because it's involved in so many different things. It's involved in commercials, it's involved in medicine and healthcare. Uh, it's one of the things that we have to be able to navigate now. How does this relate to loneliness though? Uh, it relates because uh as as we do in our preparation sharing um in our notes, I talked with Bishop about how AI now is one of the most leading platforms, one of the most popular platforms, let me say that, where people are seeking out companionship and therapy. I'll repeat that again. AI is now one of the most popular platforms in which people are now seeking out companionship and therapy. And really, the the the question is can AI reduce loneliness or does it deepen it? That's that really is the question at hand. You know, does it does it reduce it? Does it uh deepen it? I'm just gonna give you a few couple facts and then you know we'll continue this particular uh the discussion. Uh, hear what Bishop is gonna say. Uh, but if when you look at what AI does, supposedly it gives people more availability to hear the advice of another uh get the advice of another voice. I'm about to say a person because AI is not a person. Let's keep it real. It gives you the opportunity to hear the another another opinion or advice regarding a certain situation. And here's the thing that really trips me out, bishop. I didn't realize this until some of my colleagues let me know that black people are actually the ones using AI the most for these tools. I didn't realize that. I really didn't. Um, I thought our counterparts were in other uh ethnic backgrounds, but black people are actually at the forefront of using AI when it comes to um therapy, getting opinions regarding various different things that they're facing and battling. And it's interesting, one of the reasons why people are utilizing it uh is because they don't want to confront or the or the fear of confronting another person. Um they feel like uh by using AI they can remain anonymous. Yeah, the anonymity, uh, lack of being judged. Yeah, yeah. You know, you're talking to somebody, you say, Hey Siri, you know, what am I supposed to do? And Siri don't know what you look like.
SPEAKER_03Um see, look at that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, but but that that's that's so important. Um, and and it raises questions. Um, even even speaking um from a pastoral perspective, um, um, let me do the disclaimer for for uh those who would watch. Um faith communities are not beyond critique. Um I think that's how we get better. Um I don't think that we improve by denial um or suppressing the truth um or certain facts, but uh it's not beyond critique. Um we are not faith communities. Um, however, um it is important to point out sometimes when our um our pseudo-critiques become rationalizations for other vulnerabilities we don't want to deal with. And so, like when we say, um, I don't want to feel judged, so I go to AI, right? Okay, okay, that begs the question. I don't know, you very may well be in an environment where you are being judged, but it raises the question, are you being judged? And how do you define judgment? Because if I'm already uncomfortable with community, what is really making me uncomfortable is not judgment but accountability.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_01And when we're in community, we're accountable to each other. And if I have this pinch on towards independence as opposed to interdependence and community, then when I'm held accountable, I don't know the difference between critique and criticism. And they are very much distinct. Critique is meant to offer pathways to improvement based on a positive overall perspective, whereas criticism is meant to or tends to have more ad hominem attacks and put a person down. Um, and so, but if I'm already sensitive to being vulnerable in any way, then am I really adequately distinguishing critique from criticism? Am I distinguishing judgment from accountability? And you may need to talk through those things because that is perpetuating the loneliness that is only kind of reinforcing the cycle. Um, because if my solution is community, but I don't know what healthy community looks like, then I use my rationalizations to continue to isolate myself from community, which only continues to exacerbate my problem. I want to just kind of expose how that loop needs to be interrupted. Um, and that's why there's help and hope. That's why there's someone to talk to. That's why that's a reason to see your pastoral care or your psychotherapeutic care provider. Um, because AI is wonderful. Um, uh, certainly has many advantages, certainly has many things that we could use in positive ways, um, inclusive of how we're using spirit and mind and other ways uh that it is a um is an asset to us. But there's also something to be said about considering um um the use of AI as artificial intelligence um as a proponent or creator of what Esther Perel, psychotherapist, calls artificial intimacy, the other AI. And so as she calls it. And so uh uh is that legitimate? Is this creating is is this sufficient for my to satisfy my need for human interaction? Is this sufficient for my need to be accountable because I am my brother's keeper? Um, I am my sister's keeper, and we do affect each other. And particularly for those of us who come from a faith tradition, um, particularly in the Christian tradition, it is meant to be beloved community. Um one decision affects another. And that's true of us in family. Um one family person member's decision can affect or infect the whole family. One person's decision can in and they're literally support groups for persons who are family members or caregivers to persons with who have made certain decisions that put them in certain conditions, perhaps. Um they're care groups for, they're support groups for the family members of the incarcerated, for family members of those who wrestle with various addictions, because one person's decision has other effects on the system. That is a very biblical concept. In fact, the scriptures say the whole earth travails, waiting for the manifestation of the children of God. What that means is um, Dr. Shep, we we talk about this all the time, but one of the characteristics of mental health is the ability to realize our potential. Yes. And so if while realization of potential may be a personal thing in one aspect, the realization of potential is also partnered with making contributions to community because my personal development and the realization of your personal potential has ripple effects on those with whom we're meant to be connected, or vice versa. My arrested development affects those with whom I am in community because we're really not in this alone. Now, take that scripture. Because we affect each other, and so that's why we want you to be the best version of you. You and I can't be the best version of ourselves in isolation.
SPEAKER_02Wow, wow, and then it begs to uh the question begs then does AI is it taken away from our ability to be able to be the best that we can be? And that's that's one of the things that we you know we wrestle back and forth about. The reason why we bring it up is because we want people to know that there's various different techniques and platforms to use, but any misuse or overuse of something can be uh viewed negatively and have uh negative consequences uh to what you're doing. Um, that's so impactful, Bishop. Uh, what you're saying right there. Uh that's I'm I'm really digesting that about how the earth is waiting for the manifestation of the children of God. That that's powerful. That that that really is powerful.
SPEAKER_01And then you look at the various things that could be uh making the wait longer, if you were because a a an expanded theological position, again, uh this is spirit in mind, but again, our theology is so impacted, impacted by our sociology, and because our sociological setting is one in which individualism and personal responsibility are high values, not saying that they aren't values, but the emphasis on those two in our society can cause us to sometimes miss the breadth and broadness of a soteriology or the saving grace of God. So this idea of salvation is not just personal, but it is societal. And it is not just societal, but it's ecological. Uh, there's an ecosystem, the whole earth travails, waiting for children of God to realize our potential as children of God. And when we do, not only will we be in a better position psycho-spiritually, but so too will our families, our communities, our countries, and our environment. That that's that's the relaying impact. And so an individualist perspective uh can sometimes overfocus on our personal salvation and personal responsibility without considering how intertwined our personal responsibility is to community. Wow.
SPEAKER_02And that that really just speaks so much to how we have to be careful not to allow loneliness to not um to prevent us from achieving our purpose here on earth. Um that that that's huge, that really is huge. And I'm thinking about even with this platform of AI, one of the things that we've seen, Bishop, is yes, it has benefits, but we've seen the other part of it too, where AI will tell people to go out and do things that are harmful to themselves because it's not able to process everything that uh a person is going through. We've had suicidal attempts, and I hate to say we've even had suicidal completions due to advice given by AI. And this is one of the this is this is one of the fears that we're having uh in the mental health world, the professional world, if you would, uh, that even when our patients are coming in for treatment, and I'm uh and I'm not sure how you all feel as a pastor, how they come in for counseling, uh, but I know when they're coming in for treatment, Bishop, we have to ask, who have you been talking to? Absolutely. Who who else who else have you been consulting? And it's so interesting now. Well, you know, I did ask AI. You know, before it used to be Google, you know, Dr. Google was, you know, I used to have to compete with Dr. Google. Well, that's not what Google said. Uh, I don't hear as much of that now, but I definitely hear more of AI. Uh, well, you know, Dr. Shepard, AI didn't tell me to do that, it actually told me that I should stop taking the medication and go over here and buy this and that. And I was like, okay. And I have to feel, um, well, I won't say I have to feel, but I have to be able to work with that person where they're at. I just can't tell them, well, stop listening to it or uh just throw it out because otherwise I'm gonna end up losing the person. I'm gonna end up losing the case. I'm gonna end up losing um the reason why they're coming to see me. Thankfully, they're still coming to see me. Uh, but I I I want to just emphasize to people today that if you just heard what Bishop said, that we must be that there there must be interdependence uh uh uh between uh uh I won't say in between that we must exercise and practice interdependence as opposed to independence, uh and knowing that there is a connection that God has put inside of us uh that we are better together. You know, what one of the titles that I've been looking at as we've been studying this is Alone Together.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02It's like, wait a minute, we're which what is it? Alone together. Uh it's amazing. We can come together into various different uh crowds, stadiums. You mentioned football earlier. I'm a huge football fan, love football. Uh, we can come into these big stadiums and crowds and yet still feel alone. Um, yet still feel isolated. Um it's that's that is so interesting that that that people can still that we still battle with that. Um and yet knowing that we have these various platforms that can give us this advice, uh, I want us to be careful that we utilize it wisely. Um make sure uh that you are utilizing AI if you're gonna use it in conjunction with the expert, if you're dealing with mental health issues, with the mental health professional. Uh, because as I'm telling you, we are seeing more and more cases where people are doing things that are uh detrimental to the mental health, emotional health, physical health. Um I mean it's it's all the rage now and symposiums and conferences. Um and I just don't know what trajectory we're on, Bishop. I really don't.
SPEAKER_00Don't forget to follow us on social media on Facebook at Spirit in Money, and we're also on Instagram. That's spirit in my mind. Join us next time for the new episode of Spirit in Money.