Over recent years, as we have watched the rise of artificial intelligence released into the public domain, there have been a few moments that have really caught my attention regarding the fundamental shifts taking place around us. Specifically, two recent mobile phone advertisements struck me as significant illustrations of how digital technology and AI are quietly reshaping how we view, interpret, and understand reality itself.

One of the first adverts that got me thinking was for a new phone with a fancy camera and editing software that allows you to remove any element of a photograph you would like. I imagine this is fairly standard in most cameras and editing suites now, but three or so years ago this was obviously quite new. In the advert, a young man is jumping with a ball up to a basketball hoop to score, but he is jumping onto a mini trampoline to create an impossibly high shot for any person to achieve unaided. The trampoline is then deleted from the photograph with the tap of a finger, leaving an undoubtedly impressive but fabricated shot. The second advert, also for a mobile phone, featured three Liverpool football players taking a photograph together. One player takes a photo of the other two, presses a button to freeze the frame while he swaps places with one of his teammates, who finishes taking the photo as though all three were originally in it together.

What is interesting about both of these examples is that on the surface they seem completely harmless, and you could easily argue that something fairly insignificant has been changed. The jump is evidently impossible, and anyone can see that, so really all that has been created is a fun, playful photo. You could argue that artists have employed artistic licence for centuries, or that the football players were all present together anyway and someone else passing by could have just as easily taken the shot. The presentation of this type of technology is always entirely innocent, looking simply like a fun and inconsequential development for our modern obsession with taking photos of our everyday lives. Yet, when we pause to reflect on what is actually occurring, the broader societal implications become deeply concerning.

For those of us who grew up in the 1990s, the speed of digital development over the last few decades is staggering. I remember starting university in 2003 and having another student attempt to explain the concept of Wi-Fi to me, while another showed off a USB drive. I recall the distinct sounds of dial-up internet, the storage limits of floppy disks, and the fragility of cassette tapes. It is truly staggering to stop and consider the changes that have taken place in less than 40 years. Digital technology has swept in like a flood and overtaken every aspect of our lives but this new move to AI has taken us all to an entirely new place and is beginning to impact how we view reality.

This shift into artificial intelligence marks an entirely new stage in the digital takeover and it has begun to destroy our very understanding of objective truth. Gone are the days when a photograph or video recording served as irrefutable proof that an event actually occurred. We now live in a world where voice cloning, deepfakes, and algorithmic generation operate at the touch of a button. We are likely living through a brief window in history where it still remains possible to distinguish between genuine human creation and synthetic generation. How long that window remains open and what happens to a culture when it can no longer trust what its eyes see, is a critical question of the days that we live in.

In Matthew 24, when Jesus instructed His disciples concerning the end of the age, His primary and recurring warning was this: do not be deceived. He emphasized that the world would be marked by relentless attempts to lead people, including believers, astray through falsehood and counterfeits. While Jesus did not speak in terms of Wi-Fi, algorithms, or artificial intelligence, He knew precisely the spiritual environment His followers would face in the days preceding His return. He knew that humanity would eventually craft tools capable of bending perception and obscuring truth and that the world would be completely saturated in this type of technology. According to Jesus, the hallmarks of the final days would be spiritual confusion and systemic deception, leaving His disciples with a clear imperative: to remain vigilant, discerning, and firmly rooted in His Word.

If the end of the age was always destined to be saturated with this synthetic, deceptive content, then the essential question we must ask ourselves as believers is this: what steps are we actively taking to guard our hearts and remain faithful to the coming King? Jesus’ command to not be deceived will undoubtedly require radical, countercultural choices if we are to withstand the demonically inspired shift that has already re-engineered so much of human life. What will we truly be willing to relinquish or reshape in order to stay faithful, grounded in the truth of Scripture, and genuinely prepared for His return?

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