John Piper warns AI can think but never ‘delight in God’ like humans

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Assistant Editor Tuesday, April 21, 2026

As concerns about artificial intelligence grow, pastor and theologian John Piper says the rise of "AI" is clarifying what makes humans unique and why emotion is central to the Christian life.

Speaking on a recent episode of the "Ask Pastor John" podcast from Desiring God, the 80-year-old chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis responded to a listener's question about whether emotions are essential to faith, arguing they are foundational rather than optional.

"Emotions and affections in the Christian life are not icing on the cake of commitment," Piper said. "They are part of the cake. … They are in the engine."

Addressing artificial intelligence directly, he said advances in technology may challenge assumptions about human intelligence. However, Piper emphasized they ultimately highlight deeper spiritual distinctions. While machines may think, speak and process information more efficiently than humans, he said they lack the soul's capacity to delight in God.

"The spiritual capacity of your soul to see and savor — that's an emotion of the soul, as I'm describing it — is a capacity of the soul to delight and rejoice in and treasure. The capacity of your soul to see and savor the glory of Jesus is the essence of your uniqueness as a human being," he said.

No technological system, the pastor emphasized, can replicate that dimension of human existence.

"No machine, no computer, no AI will ever duplicate the spiritual reality of the soul's enjoyment of God," the Don't Waste Your Life author said.

Piper tied that distinction to what he described as humanity's ultimate purpose: sharing in God's joy. Believers, he said, are invited into a future where they will fully experience that joy, marking the fulfillment of human identity.

In the second half of the episode, Piper weighed in on suffering, contending that emotional engagement — especially joy — is essential for enduring hardship as a Christian.

"The New Testament teaches that to be a Christian is to suffer," he said, citing passages such as Romans and James that call believers to rejoice in trials. "Every Christian must, must suffer. There is no other way to Heaven. Therefore, how we suffer becomes a prominent (not marginal) theme in the New Testament."

According to Piper, that response is only possible when a person's deepest satisfaction is rooted in God rather than in circumstances.

"None of us will suffer as we ought if we are not finding our supreme satisfaction in God," he said.

Throughout the episode, Piper referenced multiple New Testament examples in which believers are instructed to respond to persecution and hardship with joy.

"I ask you, could a person possibly read those nine texts and say that the emotion of joy in the face of suffering is unimportant?" he said. "I could give at least a dozen other reasons like these two for why the affections of the human heart are essential to the Christian life."

In a survey of over 1,514 U.S. adults conducted in November 2025, researchers from Barna found nearly a third of U.S. adults (30%) now "somewhat" or "strongly" agree that spiritual advice from AI "is as trustworthy as advice from a pastor," the data shows. And among Generation Z and millennials, that share jumps to 39% and 40%, respectively.

Pastor Ray Miller of First Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas, recently warned against the technology becoming "another type of idol pulling at our attention."

"Often, people turn to AI because they do not have another human being or pastor or priest to turn to, and it becomes convenient. With discernment and care, I believe we can develop some best practices when it comes to AI usage for churches and use for faith in general," he told CP.

"We are living in the midst of a technological revolution unseen in human history since the advent of the printing press. That technological shift had profound implications for faith, as the Bible was finally placed in the hands of the people," he explained.

"As we begin to sift through what AI will do to us as humans, the Church will have to help answer the question: What does it mean to be human, to be made in God's image in an age of digital AI?" he added. "We will have to double down on discipling people to develop their own slow, interactive relationship with God."