4 Ways AI Health Tools Reveal How We Steward Our Bodies

Thanks to the internet and the more recent prevalence of "Artificial Intelligence," almost every area of life has been affected by our access to fast, convenient, and robust information. What took hours or even days of research to find out a few decades ago now takes only a few seconds. But there is a catch: the internet is also full of misinformation. And since AI can only regurgitate what it has been fed, if we are not careful, we can end up feeling confident about things that are simply not true, just because our phones or computers told us it was true. This applies to our health and wellness as well.

Today, many people are using AI to diagnose problems, develop workout plans, figure out how to lose weight, and even get encouragement from virtual "coaches" (such as with Apple's new "Workout Buddy" that talks with you in real time while you exercise based on what you're doing). The downside of this, as already mentioned, is that the information we find on the internet may be wrong or at least not tailored to our age or body type. We learn less when we choose convenience over hard work and don't do the research ourselves. When we keep our health and wellness to ourselves instead of being vulnerable and sharing it with someone else, we lose the potential for human accountability, which is one of the most important ways we maintain good health.

The positives to using the internet and AI for our health are that we do not have to divulge our personal details to someone we do not know, there is no line to have to wait in or co-pay like there would be for a doctor's office or urgent care, medical and health professionals have an avenue to freely share their expertise to the world, and the time between deciding to get healthy and getting the information needed to do so is instantaneous. Of course, virtual doctor appointments or health and fitness coaching have been around for a while, but AI allows someone to be even more private and anonymous.

The best outcome of AI health tools, however, is that it reveals to us how we steward our bodies. The reality is that we can find whatever we are looking for on the internet - meaning that if we look hard enough, we can find someone somewhere who tells us what we want to hear about diet, body type, exercise, and the rest of our health. If we stop long enough to pay attention, we can not only learn from the information we find on the internet, but we can also learn from the actual questions we are asking. The questions we ask AI and the problems we want it to solve give us a window into how we desire to live our lives. 

How Should Christians Think About AI Health Tools?

Christians can use AI health tools with gratitude and caution. These tools may offer helpful information, save time, and provide convenient starting points, but they should never replace wisdom, embodied accountability, or discernment. The deeper question is not only whether AI can help us get healthier, but whether our pursuit of health is actually shaped by God’s purposes for our bodies.

AI health tools can be useful, but they also reveal something deeper about us. They show how badly we want quick answers, private solutions, and control over our bodies and well-being. This article explores how Christians can think about AI, health, and wellness through the lenses of God’s glory, stewardship, wisdom, and long-term faithfulness.

For Christians, we must orient our desires about our health and wellness around the following four biblical principles.

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Kseniya Ovchinnikova