Artificial intelligence, or more commonly known as AI, has been rapidly seeping into almost every corner of our lives. From AI-generated photos, AI-assisted research, AI advertisements, AI-written essays, recipes, workouts, and daily schedules mapped out with AI (and the list goes on), it’s getting harder to tell what’s real and what’s AI-generated. More so, the line between a helpful tool and harmful technology may be getting harder to see. The opinions on AI are widespread. Many people are leery of its rapid growth and of where it could be headed—fearing a future such as seen in the 2008 animated film WALL-E might turn out to be a bit too plausible.
I reached out to eleven working professionals across a variety of fields to better understand how AI has affected their workplaces; out of those eleven, eight of them got back to me. I asked them for their opinions and predictions about AI, as well as what they see as people's responsibility when it comes to setting boundaries, educating youth, and upholding truth around the use of artificial intelligence technology. Some of those interviewed will remain anonymous for their own privacy and/or the privacy of those they work with, i.e., children.
I hope that in talking about AI, shedding light on some of the practical realities of its uses (both positive and negative), and recognizing our own human responsibility to uphold truth even in the name of advancement—or perhaps especially within the name of advancement, we can, as John Green wrote in The Fault in Our Stars, “put the killing thing right between [our] teeth” and do our best to ensure it doesn’t ever have the power to do its killing.
The majority of those interviewed said they did, in some capacity, use AI at work. The exception being those in trades or the medical field.
Do you use AI at all at work? If so, how?
“Yes! A big part of my job is helping to recruit Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants who provide primary and acute care to residents in senior living facilities… From an AI standpoint, we will look at candidate profiles and have AI pull information from the profiles to create personalized messages. This tends to generate a higher response rate from candidates than generic outreach messages.”
What are some disadvantages or areas where AI might cause harm in your field?
“From a recruitment perspective, I find I still have to proofread each message before it goes out. AI isn’t always the most grammatically correct, and if not caught, it can be easily identified as AI by a candidate. Now when it comes to patient care, I think healthcare companies are moving from in-person medical scribes to AI scribes. I think this can be harmful because AI might not properly record what needs to be included in a patient’s chart/portal. If not monitored by a provider, this might lead to a misdiagnosis or other inaccurate information.”
Do you fear AI taking over your job or jobs similar to yours one day?
“I do believe AI could take over a significant portion of my job responsibilities someday. For example, candidate sourcing, scheduling interviews, and email follow-up could all be done by AI. However, I’m not worried because there’s a human element to recruiting that I don’t think AI can replace. When I connect with a candidate, I recognize I’m that person’s first interaction with our organization. Changing jobs is considered a major life change, which can cause severe anxiety even if it’s a good change. I think candidates feel more at ease making that change when they build a genuine personal connection with someone at the new organization.”
When do you think (if at all) AI crosses the line?
“In the present moment, I think AI crosses the line in the world of academia. Using AI to complete homework, projects, essays, research, etc. doesn’t challenge people to reach a solution or conclusion on their own. It can diminish the skills to think through a problem and lead to a lack of accountability when the assignment is completed.”
In an ideal world, how do you hope AI is used in the future (if at all)?
“In my ideal world, AI would not be part of the future. I think technology has already advanced far enough. We currently live in a world of instant gratification with everything being just a click away. I think a future that revolves around AI would significantly hinder our quality of life and the person God created us to be.”
How do we (the general population) keep AI from being used for “evil”?
“Like anything, I think it comes down to education, wisdom, and discernment.”
What are some advantages of AI in your field?
“AI improves the efficiency of the airline’s operation. Certain data collection and organization can be done much faster with AI, and decisions can be made more easily with more data. An area that I can see AI having a huge impact in the industry is air traffic control. If you’ve ever seen a map of air traffic flying over the country, you’ve seen what looks like mass chaos. Really, it is a well-orchestrated and very synchronized operation that thousands of people are participating in at once. Many directions, or ‘clearances’ as they are called, are given by voice over radio frequencies. AI could potentially help synchronize air traffic even more efficiently by cutting out certain layers of communication over the radio and centralizing it even further than it is today.”
What is your general opinion about AI? Why?
“I have mixed feelings on AI. I think there are some definite advantages to AI and real benefits to society, but that’s not without downsides. Obviously, the environmental impacts are real and should be a large factor in deciding where and when to build infrastructure for AI. Ethically, there are arguments for and against AI involving topics such as privacy, misinformation, and job displacement. The area I worry about most with AI is the decrease in human interaction. I think AI, with some level of oversight, is probably still a net benefit to society.”
Do you fear AI taking over your job or jobs similar to yours one day?
“I think there is a good chance that many years into the future AI will run much of, if not most, of the aviation industry. There are already airplanes flying completely automated without pilots, and AI will probably only accelerate that timeline.”
Why do you think there’s so much fear around AI?
“I think it’s fear of the unknown. We don’t know what AI is fully capable of, and we don’t know how far it will progress. It can cause massive change in our lives. From eliminating jobs to changing the way we interact with people, there are a lot of changes happening very quickly. One of the most dramatic changes to lives I’ve seen is the construction of data centers near residential areas. These use massive amounts of power and are a giant eyesore.”
If they aren’t already, do you think kids should be taught in school to discern what is real vs AI?
“Absolutely. Similarly to when I went through school, we were taught to evaluate sources to determine if they are credible or not. One of my biggest issues with AI is that people take it as fact without even examining where the information came from. Misinformation is already very prevalent, so I think it is important that adults and children alike understand what is AI and what is human.”
In an ideal world, how do you hope AI is used in the future (if at all)?
“I hope it is used for things like data collection and to improve efficiency. I think there are many things that computers are better at than humans, and there is a role for this technology in our workplaces and lives. However, I hope that the human connection in these areas remains. Similar to baseball and the recent addition of the Automated Ball Strike (ABS) system allowing players to challenge ball and strike calls by the umpires. Part of the fun of baseball is the nature of the human element, and too much technology erodes that purity of the game and makes it artificial. I think baseball is doing it right at the moment by only using ABS technology when a player wants to challenge the pitch call. This keeps the umpire behind the plate as there has been for over a hundred years. That’s how I hope AI is used. Only in areas where we see significant benefit so that we avoid turning our world into one devoid of human thought.”
How do we (the general population) keep AI from being used for “evil”?
“There should be guidelines and laws for use of personal images and likeness. I can see lots of issues evolving from that.”
What is your general opinion about AI? Why?
“My general opinion on AI is 50/50. I don't know much about the environmental side of it. I hear a bunch of things online about how it uses up tons of water and makes it undrinkable for us… I think that the main negative thing about AI is the environmental impact. On the other hand, I see it as a great tool for things like Photoshop, asking for help, ideas for creation, things like that.”
When do you think (if at all) AI crosses the line?
“I think AI crosses the line when it comes to making music. It's not in my field, but I know if AI can write good songs, then so many people would resort to that. The line in my field would be if I could completely be replaced by AI, like if I wrote a prompt and it made an amazing edit and a funny video using myself without me doing anything.”
If they aren’t already, do you think kids should be taught in school to discern what is real vs AI?
“Yes, kids should be taught the difference between what is real and fake. They are online so much, and it would be great for them to learn what is real and what isn't. If they were to believe everything they see, that could cause a lot of harm to kids' mental health.”
In an ideal world, how do you hope AI is used in the future (if at all)?
“In an ideal world, I would want AI to be used for diagnoses in the medical field. Have it double-check the doctors or dentists to make sure they are seeing what is or isn't there. I say this because at my dental office they have an AI program that they use after checking everything themselves. It's like a safety net to make sure they are treating the issue as they should.”
Do you use AI at all at work? If so, how?
“Yes! I mainly use it to enhance my lesson plans. There are times when I want more ideas on how to connect standards to engaging and hands-on activities. It helps to organize my thoughts and find ways to make lessons more meaningful for my students.”
Do you fear AI taking over your job or jobs similar to yours one day?
“No, AI will not be able to take over teaching completely. Students need teachers and mentors in their lives to build relationships, provide guidance, and support them in ways that AI cannot.”
Why do you think there’s so much fear around AI?
“I think there is fear that students and the younger generation are not doing the work but rather getting answers from AI.”
In an ideal world, how do you hope AI is used in the future (if at all)?
“I hope that it is used to help spark creativity, generate new ideas, and make tasks more efficient, while still allowing people to think critically.”
What are some advantages of AI in your field?
“The biggest advantage is speed at scale. Evaluating a single property used to take real time and manual digging. I can now assess far more opportunities in a day than I could on my own. That also levels the playing field: a small, founder-run company like mine can now do the kind of analysis and outreach that used to require a much larger team.”
What are some disadvantages or areas where AI might cause harm in your field?
“The main risk is over-relying on it without verification. AI can present information confidently even when a number or assumption is off, and in a business tied to people's homes and finances, that's a meaningful risk. I never let AI-generated figures go out the door without checking them against real data. There's also a broader ethical concern that applies well beyond my industry: AI can make it easier to manufacture false urgency or personalize a message in a way that feels genuine but isn't. Anyone using AI to communicate with customers, whether in real estate, sales, or customer service, has to be conscious of that same line.”
What is your general opinion about AI? Why?
“I'm very positive about it. I've come to think of it less as a novel tool, and more as basic infrastructure—the way email or a smartphone eventually became something no serious business could operate without. For a company in my position, not using AI to find, evaluate, and reach the right sellers faster isn't a neutral choice; it's a competitive disadvantage. I'd guess most business owners, regardless of industry, are starting to feel the same way.”
When do you think (if at all) AI crosses the line?
“For me it's simple: AI can help you work faster, but it can't be the reason someone gets misled. The moment you use it to fake urgency, fake a personal connection, or push someone into a decision they wouldn't make with the full picture, you've crossed it. That's not unique to my industry. I'd apply that same line to anyone using AI to talk to customers, clients, or an audience of any kind.”
Why do you think there’s so much fear around AI?
“A few things are stacked on top of each other. There's the practical fear of job loss, which is legitimate and shouldn't be waved away. There's discomfort with not understanding how these systems actually arrive at an answer, which makes it hard to trust even when the output is right. There's fear of being deceived, whether that's a deepfake, a scam call, or content online that isn't what it claims to be. And there's a fear that's less about AI specifically and more about pace. People can generally adapt to change, but they need time to do it, and this technology is moving into daily life faster than most previous shifts did.”
If they aren’t already, do you think kids should be taught in school to discern what is real vs AI?
“Media literacy used to mean teaching someone to question a biased headline or an unreliable source. Now it needs to include questioning whether something is real at all. I'd want that taught alongside basic digital literacy from a young age, the same way kids are taught to question an email that looks like a scam. And it shouldn't stop at spotting fakes. Kids also need to understand how to use these tools responsibly themselves, since most of them will be using AI daily in whatever career they end up in, the same way my team and I do now.”
In an ideal world, how do you hope AI is used in the future (if at all)?
“I want it to keep leveling the playing field. Tools that give you a real edge—expert-level research, analysis, marketing—have always been expensive and out of reach for regular people. AI is starting to hand that same edge to a solo entrepreneur, a student, a single parent running a household on their own. That's the version of this I want to see win out: more people getting a real shot, not fewer people having a job.”
How do we (the general population) keep AI from being used for “evil”?
“The more people understand how these tools work, the harder it becomes to manipulate them with it. And honestly, some of it comes down to the everyday choices of people actually using the technology. Every business owner and professional using AI has some responsibility to use it honestly, and enough of those individual choices, over time, shape the norms for everyone else.”
What is your general opinion about AI? Why?
“In general, I am quite against AI. The pros of being able to have it proofread a paper or help you with a math problem are [in my opinion] outweighed by the cons, [such as the] ability to take an existing photo and have AI edit it into something completely different… We already struggle with trust in the media and have several accounts of AI photos being used for deception... Things can get dangerous very quickly.”
Why do you think there’s so much fear around AI?
“I think in part because we grew up with all sorts of movies depicting the growth of AI, and when it is allowed to grow and learn, it eventually decides to take over.”
In an ideal world, how do you hope AI is used in the future (if at all)?
“I hope that AI goes away. In a world where everything is viewed through a phone screen, AI is going to continue to be used deceitfully, and people are going to continue to try and use it for their own gain—even if it harms others along the way.”
How do we (the general population) keep AI from being used for “evil”?
“I think more people need to put their phones down and go for a walk, get out and meet new people.”
What is your general opinion about AI? Why?
“Personally, I am not a fan of AI, or data centers in general. Sure, for an electrician it could create lots of jobs, but it could be killing the earth at the same time or killing people’s ability to think for themselves. I’m not trying to end up like Wall-E.”
Do you fear AI taking over your job or jobs similar to yours one day?
“Not my job, or many in the electrical field. Electrical is ever-changing, and the scenarios are always different, and you need people to actually do the work.”
In an ideal world, how do you hope AI is used in the future (if at all)?
“Personally, I’d like to see and hear about it less than we already do.”
What are some disadvantages or areas where AI might cause harm in your field?
“The most obvious disadvantage would be that AI is not perfect and can get things wrong. Even when I would occasionally use ChatGPT in nursing school, I found it would give me wrong answers to practice questions. With that being said, it often helped me study. I could import a PowerPoint from class and have ChatGPT create practice quizzes for me in order to better prepare me for exams. I think AI in the medical field, if used incorrectly, is a scary thought. Nursing is all about assessment and judgment, using critical thinking, and relying on AI takes away all those things.”
When do you think (if at all) AI crosses the line?
“I think whenever it is being used to replace your own thoughts and assessments, it's crossing a line. But when it is used to further educate you about a topic, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe they can create a better way to chart in nursing and for providers so it doesn't take so much of our shift!”
How do we (the general population) keep AI from being used for “evil”?
“I am a firm believer in teaching kids biblical truths. Obviously the Bible doesn't say "AI," but I know it talks a lot about different things of this world. Having a firm biblical base and knowledge helps us discern how to live our lives according to God's will and use the things he has given us for his glory and purpose. God gave us smart minds that created these programs, and he gave us smart minds to decipher how they can be used for good.”
Those interviewed who work in trades or more blue-collar fields, such as the electrician and the team lead at Fleetwood, had similar outlooks on AI—that being predominantly negative. Interestingly, it is the blue-collar workers who claim to not use AI in their fields at all and have no fear of AI taking over their jobs one day who have the most disdain for AI.
In the middle of the road, we have participants such as the senior recruiter, NICU RN, and the airline pilot. They recognized that AI can and sometimes does play a role in each of their fields, and each of them had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, AI offers efficiency and education; however, on the other hand, it takes away discernment and human thought and connection.
On the other end of the spectrum, the investment recruiter and the third grade teacher were mostly positive about AI. Both recognized risks and the need for intentional education around how to use AI appropriately. Both also claimed it gave them a leg up in their career or helped improve what they were already doing.
Interestingly, I also reached out to a graphic designer and a poet. Neither one got back to me. From my own observations in the creative world, AI is deeply hated and avoided. Therefore, one can infer that, like our tradesmen, those in the creative spaces hold disdain for something that they also do not use. Conversely, many people in the creative world do fear AI taking over their careers—or at least lessening the authenticity and deeply human element of creating something out of nothing: art, poetry, literature.
It causes one to wonder if the fear around AI, as many of our participants pointed out, is rooted in the unfamiliar and/or unknown. Do those, like the investment realtor, who use AI daily have less fear of AI because they are so exposed to it and have a deeper understanding of how it works?
It seems, regardless of career, every participant felt it was important for the general population to educate themselves on AI. We cannot wait for guidelines and laws to be enforced; rather, we must lean into our own ability to discern and evaluate what is true and what is helpful. As Christians, we are constantly called to pursue and uphold truth. In the age of artificial intelligence, this mandate could not be more prevalent.
AI will, most likely, only continue to grow and become more commonplace in many careers. The opinions on AI are varied, and most people can see both positive and negative attributes of its use. It comes down, then, to human responsibility and ethical standards. AI is not innately evil, nor is it innately positive. It seems the deciding factor in whether or not the world is doomed to fall into a WALL-E-esque existence is human morality. Artificial intelligence cannot, on its own, destroy human connection and original thought. It is the allowance of AI to replace human connection, original thought, work ethic, and discernment when it otherwise should be avoided that will be our downfall. Therefore, education on the effects, both positive and negative, of AI is imperative; the preservation of humanity may very well depend on it.
Jade Havenaar is a Holland native and a life-long lover of the lake, coffee, and a good book. She’s a former middle school teacher and a published author. After marrying the boy she met in a bar and traveling the US together, she and her husband welcomed their first born and Jade happily added “boy mom” to the list of hats she wears. When she’s not writing or changing diapers, she’s probably out adventuring with her Golden Retriever, Henry.
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