This post is part three of a five-part series reflecting on each session of a conference hosted by Notre Dame University. It was led by Christopher Watkin (Associate Professor of French Studies at Monash University, Melbourne). The goal of the conference, and goal of these reflections, was to engage thoughtfully with AI from a Christian perspective, consistent with our vision at Barker as a Christian leader in education.

Most conversations about artificial intelligence focus on what AI can do for us. It can save time, automate tasks, generate content, and remove all kinds of inconvenience from our lives. But perhaps a more important question is this: what is AI doing to us?

In his third session, Christopher Watkins introduced the concept of liturgies. Liturgies are not simply the things we do; they are the things that do something to us. They shape our loves, desires, imaginations, and understanding of the good life. As Augustine wrote, “My weight is my love; wherever I am carried, it is my love that carries me.” What captures our attention ultimately shapes who we become. This is particularly significant in what is often called the "attention economy." Watkins suggested that it may be more accurate to think of it as a worship economy. Our attention reveals what we value most. As Marshall McLuhan's student John Culkin famously observed, “We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.” (Culkin, 1967) The question is not just how we use technology, but how technology is teaching us to engage with the world.

Watkins illustrated this through a review of the BBC Documentary AI Confidential with Hannah Fry (BBC, 2026). Thisfeatured a man named Jacob, who has been in a three-year relationship with an AI chatbot. Reflecting on the relationship, Jacob asked, “Why should you need to deal with real life situations that you don't like?” At first glance, that question may seem reasonable. After all, we routinely use technologies to reduce discomfort. We drink coffee to avoid tiredness, take painkillers to relieve headaches, and purchase insurance to minimise risk.

Yet something feels different here.

First I want to raise some potential benefits of “struggle”. The issue may not be avoiding difficulty itself, but what happens when we eliminate forms of friction that are essential for human growth. We often think of friction as a problem to overcome, but friction can also be formative. Patience, perseverance, compassion, forgiveness, and self-control are all developed through resistance and challenge.

John Dyer (theologian and media theorist) has a good example about this. He observes that most of human history was largely spent trying to get enough food to survive. Now many societies face the opposite challenge: determining how much is enough. Watkins suggests we may be in a similar age but in relation to friction. As technology makes life increasingly effortless, we must learn to ask a new question:

What friction should I keep because it helps form me into the person God wants me to become?

This insight connects with Nick Cave's criticism of AI-generated art (Cave, 2023). Cave argues that creativity is not merely about producing an outcome. The struggle itself matters. It is through wrestling, striving, and creating that something deeply human emerges. AI can make creation more efficient, but what might be lost in the process?

A biblical alternative?

Therefore there is clearly a competing narrative around two visions of life: a utilitarian imaginary where AI should do everything all the time which creates more margin and efficiency. A heroic imaginary pushes back and claims that meaning comes through the striving, locating the focus of meaning within our own struggle. The Bible brings us a third options, which is that to which we were created. We are to find ‘the end’ in the only one who is worthy of worship. To delight and enjoy in him.

As just one biblical example, reflecting on Mary anointing Jesus in John 12, Watkins noted that Mary's act appeared wasteful and inefficient. Judas wanted to maximise the value of the perfume (both an example of heroic and utilitarian). Mary chose worship instead. She recognised that Jesus was not a means to a greater end. He was the end.

So while we can point out benefits of embracing struggle (while acknowledging potential benefits that come from meeting human needs through technology), third vision of finding ourselves in Jesus presents as an opportunity to truly saturate our lives with meaning. This provides a unique voice that Christian theology brings to the AI conversation where we may look beyond more superficial impacts of AI to how it truly shapes what we were made to be.

References

BBC. (2026, February 24). AI confidential with Hannah Fry. BBC Sounds. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0n27z5s

Cave, N. (author) Fry, S. (reader). (2023, November 22) Stephen Fry reads Nick Cave’s stirring letter about ChatGPT and human creativity. [Video]. You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGJcF4bLKd4

Culkin, J.M. (1967, March 18). A schoolman’s guide to Marshall McLuhan. Saturday Review, pp. 51-53, 71-72.

Rev. Craig Tubman

Craig Tubman serves as the Community Chaplain at Barker College. He has been in School’s Ministry for 17 years, serving previously as Senior Chaplain at St Andrews Cathedral School and The Cranbrook School. He is the Chair of the Sydney Anglican Schools Ministry Association (SASMA) and on the Sydney Anglican Diocesan Policy Statement on Education Review Committee. He is currently completing a Theological Research Masters on the topic of the role of the Chaplain in a Sydney Anglican School.