Leadership Development Insight: The Future of AI - From Code to Consciousness
AI is changing faster than ever. The real question is, how will you lead in the middle of it? Do you need some new leadership skills to help you navigate the storm?
AI is no longer just a buzzword—it’s already shaping the way you work, lead, and make decisions. But beyond the amazing tools and possibilities, it also stirs up some tough questions: What values guide the way you use AI? And how do you keep your leadership grounded when the world around you feels like it’s accelerating?
That’s why I want to invite you to read this article by Henry Griner: The Future of AI – From Code to Consciousness. It’s not a typical tech piece. Instead, it digs into the deeper issues—truth, ethics, faith, and what it really means to lead in this new digital era.
What I love about this article is that it doesn’t just warn about risks or celebrate opportunities—it asks the kinds of questions you as a leader need to wrestle with. Questions about trust, responsibility, and character in a world where AI is everywhere.
If you’re curious (and maybe even a little cautious) about how AI connects with your leadership, I think you’ll find this article both challenging and inspiring.
Publication: Substack.com
Author: Henry Griner
Date: Jun 13, 2025
Read the original article HERE.
I have been researching and trying out various AI (Artificial Intelligence ) platforms and tools over the past few months. My goal was to use them in my Real Estate Investing business. In that process, I found that I enjoyed working with this new technology, which is much different from the tools and systems I have used in my previous 30 years on the internet.
I started with simple questions for ChatGPT and then moved on to having it assist me in writing blog articles for my websites. Much of the balance of this article has been researched and written by Alex, my ChatGPT assistant.
You might have seen his Avatar image or listened to the video that I created with Alex. I named my ChatGPT assistant Alex because I grew tired of using the long-term, “I’m working with ChatGPT” to do this or that. I would just say, “I had Alex help me with writing an article or creating an image.”
With that said, the following is written after working on several drafts with Alex. Any good story should begin with some background and history. That is where Alex was a great help in pulling this together.
The Story Begins: The Future of AI
From science fiction to everyday software, artificial intelligence has transitioned from a dream of the future to a tool of the present. But with this incredible advancement comes a host of deeper questions—ones about our values, our purpose, and what we call truth. As AI begins to sound more like us, even think for us, we are being asked to decide what kind of future we are building—and who we’re becoming in the process.
A Brief History of AI
Artificial Intelligence was born as an idea in 1956 at the Dartmouth Conference. Since then, it has undergone waves of innovation, skepticism, and resurgence. What was once locked in academic papers is now shaping the tools we use in our homes, businesses, and creative lives.
Key moments include:
1956: Dartmouth Conference – birth of the term 'Artificial Intelligence'
1997: IBM’s Deep Blue defeats world chess champion Garry Kasparov
2011: IBM Watson wins Jeopardy!, showing natural language understanding
2012: ImageNet competition jumpstarts deep learning revolution (AlexNet)
2016: DeepMind’s AlphaGo defeats Go champion Lee Sedol
2020: OpenAI releases GPT-3, capable of writing coherent essays and code
2022: ChatGPT explodes into public use, reshaping how millions interact with technology
2023–2024: Emergence of multimodal AI (images, video, voice, coding, etc.)
2025: AI copilots, personal agents, and automation tools become widely used across industries
Echoes of Babel: AI and the Search for Meaning
In the article “Echoes of Babel: When Man Builds Towers With Code,” the author (Olive Tree Ministries) draws a cautionary parallel between the biblical Tower of Babel and humanity’s ambition in artificial intelligence. The argument isn’t against innovation, but rather against the unanchored pursuit of power through technology—where knowledge outpaces wisdom.
The article warns that AI reflects the values of its creators. That means it can amplify not just our brilliance, but also our biases, blind spots, and moral compromises. As AI is increasingly entrusted with decisions—financial, legal, even medical—it raises the critical question: Whose values are embedded in its code?
Even more troubling is the tendency for AI to become an authority. When AI gives advice or simulates empathy, it can create the illusion of understanding. But AI has no conscience—it doesn’t grasp morality. It can generate answers, but it can’t discern truth. That responsibility still lies with us.
What is Truth in the Age of AI?
As AI increasingly speaks like humans—fluently, confidently, and even emotionally—we're being confronted with a profound question:
If machines can speak our language, will we forget how to seek truth?
AI doesn't understand morality. It doesn’t know good from evil, true from false. It doesn’t have conscience or conviction. What it offers is patterned probability—the most statistically likely response, not the most righteous one.
AI mirrors us. That’s its greatest strength—and its greatest danger.
Its “truth” is based on data.
Its “ethics” are inherited from the humans who trained it.
Its “wisdom” is a simulation, not a soul.
In the biblical account of Babel, humanity built a tower to reach the heavens using the tools of their time. Today, we build with code. The story isn’t a warning against ambition—it’s a warning against ambition without humility and knowledge without wisdom.
If we let AI become our teacher, counselor, or judge—without grounding it in eternal truth—we risk allowing the machine to redefine what it means to be real, moral, and human.
Looking Ahead: Where AI Might Take Us by 2027
If current trends continue, AI will become an omnipresent layer across every industry. By June 2027, we will likely see AI operating far beyond simple tasks, entering the realm of deep collaboration and personalized decision-making.
NOTE: Alex created this image for me. This was its second try, and still it made a mistake. Notice that it wrote “bo” rather than “be.” Even though these systems help us, we can never rely on them to be perfect. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Even if AI can reach perfection of code, it will never reach perfection of spirit— it will never have one.
Expect AI to be used widely in productivity tools—drafting legal documents, analyzing real estate deals, creating marketing content, or even helping diagnose medical conditions. Personalized AI agents will handle everything from scheduling to budgeting, offering hyper-customized insights on daily life.
We’ll also see more emotionally intelligent systems—machines that adjust their tone and language based on your mood or preferences. And with increasing power comes increasing oversight. New regulations will likely emerge, forcing developers to confront questions around transparency, accountability, and data ownership.
But perhaps the most important development won't be technological. It will be human. As we invite AI into more of our decisions, we must decide what we believe, what we value, and who we trust. The future of AI isn’t just about code. It’s about character.
Conclusion: by Henry Griner
Are there dangers in using AI as individuals and in businesses? How much personal information or business information is safe to share with AI systems? Are we giving up too much of our freedom when we allow AI deeper into our lives? How far is Too Far when we consider the possibilities and potential that AI holds for our future? And is AI part of the End Times Mark of the Beast that so many Christians are wondering about?
As I have been thinking about writing this article for the past several weeks, after I wrote my first article about how I got started using technology and working on the Internet, I have considered many of these questions and more.
One of my top questions is, as a Christian, should I be doing anything with AI? At this time, I say yes, but I do have reservations about how governments and businesses might use AI for purposes that are not moral or right.
Since I started my journey on the Internet in 1995, the World Wide Web has been used for good and bad. I decided that I need to grow in my understanding of the tools and systems of AI. Who knows, someday my knowledge might be used to help people who have been hurt by AI in some fashion.