“God created man in his own image.” – Genesis 1:27
Maybe I was a little sarcastic in the way I said it, in fact I probably should not have said it at all, except by then it was too late to take it back. “I’ll bet that every meeting you attend you are the smartest guy in the room,” I had blurted out sarcastically without thinking. It was an inappropriate remark for an executive coach to make to a client. Yet his reaction surprised me. While he acknowledged that he believed that to be true, his facial expression and body language seemed to indicate I may have struck a nerve.
He was a brilliant man, hard-working and dedicated, and a student of every detail of his area of responsibility, a high performer in every sense. Why then was he not getting promoted? Why was he not being considered for higher leadership positions? And that is how I came on the scene, the reason he had engaged a coach. So it was that, inappropriate as it may have been, my sarcastic comment had somehow flipped on the light switch, an ah-ha moment for both of us. What we realized in that moment was that even though he was an encyclopedia of functional knowledge about every detail and knew all the right answers in meetings, what was holding him back was in leaving his humanity at the door when he came to work.
As I read more and more about the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution taking place it has reminded me of my journey with that gentleman and the parallels between the two in that knowledge and expertise and skills, while critically important, only take us so far. It occurred to me that we humans are more than the knowledge we may have accumulated, than the skills we may have acquired. “God created man in his own image,” and while God may be the ultimate intellectual, He is much more, which means, thus being created in God’s image, we too are much more.
AI has potential to provide great advancements for humanity, the world, and the universe. It also has potential for great destruction when used with the wrong motives. Then there is the fear that it will displace human endeavors altogether. Except! Except, only mankind was created in God’s image, not AI, and it is only God who breathes life and spirit into us humans. God is the ultimate moral compass. God is love, and only God can give us hope. . . That was my client’s epiphany – and his career took off.