Human Formation in an Artificial World

As artificial intelligence reshapes education, work, and society, Christian educators face a sobering question: will technology set the pace for formation, or will formation set the boundaries for technology? The mission of Christian education has never been merely skill transfer, but the cultivation of biblical wisdom, character, and calling. Therefore, our purpose is not to produce AI-fluent graduates alone, but deeply grounded, well-rounded people prepared to bring light into a broken world. Human formation must outpace technological acceleration, or the tools we adopt will quietly reshape the very people we are meant to form.

Here is the uncomfortable reality however: formation that refuses to engage in the world, especially with emerging AI technologies, loses its power to shape. Human formation must happen in the context of the prevailing environment for us to have influences over it. In other words, focusing on the cultivation of biblical wisdom, character, and calling alone, without some deeper understanding of the technologies that are shaping society, is equally limiting.

This moment brings Christian educators to a critical inflection point. The question is no longer whether we will engage AI tools and emerging technologies, our students already are. The deeper question is how we do so without diminishing, and instead elevating, the work of human formation. As machines grow more capable, the formation of wisdom, character, discernment, and calling has never been more urgent. The task before us is to hold these together: to engage AI thoughtfully while ensuring that human formation does not merely keep pace with technological change but leads it.

AI adoption is exploding everywhere, in businesses, in homes, and especially among students. 92% of students now use AI tools in 2025, up from just 66% in 2024.[1] That's a 26-percentage point jump in one year. Even more telling, 88% of students used generative AI for assessments in 2025, compared to 53% in 2024. Students have moved beyond experimenting and now rely on AI as a core part of their learning. ChatGPT now serves more than 800 million users every week.[2] In the last 12 months alone, overall, AI adoption increased by 10 percentage points to 54.6% of American adults.[3] This is faster than any technology in history, faster than personal computers, faster than the internet. In the workplace, 78% of organizations used AI in 2024, and 40% of employers plan to reduce their workforce where AI can automate tasks.[4] MIT research from just this month found that AI can already replace 11.7% of the U.S. workforce, representing about $1.2 trillion in wages across finance, healthcare, and professional services.[5] Roughly 20 million Americans’ work could be replaced with today's AI, right now.

Developing AI Literacy

Artificial intelligence is no longer a specialized technology reserved for engineers and computer scientists. It is rapidly becoming the invisible infrastructure of nearly every profession. AI is reshaping how work is done: business decisions are shaped by predictive models, classrooms are supported by adaptive learning systems, and scientific discovery is accelerated by machine learning. In this technologically dominant environment, students who lack AI literacy risk being unprepared, not because they cannot use tools, but because they do not understand the systems shaping their decisions, opportunities, and responsibilities.

AI literacy begins with understanding what AI is and what it is not. Students must grasp how systems like machine learning and large language models rely on data, patterns, and probability rather than true understanding. Recognizing AI’s limitations, including bias, fabricated outputs, and the absence of moral judgment, helps prevent misplaced trust in powerful but imperfect systems. AI literacy also requires practical skills. Across professions, AI is now used for writing, analysis, research, and creative work. Students who know how to choose appropriate tools, design effective prompts, and integrate AI into their workflows gain meaningful advantage.

Across business, education, psychology, science, and the humanities, AI literacy is now foundational. It also includes responsible data stewardship and protecting trust. The future of work belongs to those who can work wisely alongside AI, not just those who build it. Understanding AI is no longer optional. It is essential for credibility, adaptability, and long-term success.

Recent labor market evidence makes clear that AI literacy is becoming a baseline requirement for graduating students. A global analysis of 1.3 billion job postings shows that roles requiring AI skills carry an average salary premium of nearly 28 percent, or about $18,000 more per year, across fields including business, marketing, HR, and finance.[6] At the same time, the World Economic Forum projects that nearly 40 percent of core job skills will change by 2030, with AI and technological literacy among the fastest-growing demands, as AI reshapes the vast majority of businesses and creates millions of new roles.[7]

Employer sentiment reinforces this shift: recent surveys indicate that two-thirds of executives would not consider candidates without AI capabilities, and 71% prefer less experienced candidates who possess AI skills over more experienced ones who do not.[8] Together, these findings underscore that AI literacy is no longer optional for graduates, but essential for access, adaptability, and long-term career viability.

Unfortunately, higher education is falling dangerously behind the world our students are already living in. While more than 90 percent of students regularly use AI, far fewer faculty are meaningfully integrating it into teaching, and many acknowledge they are not well equipped to guide students in its use. The result is a widening gap between how students are learning and what universities are preparing them for. We continue to debate whether AI should be allowed, even as students are already using it to develop skills we are not teaching. Each semester, that gap grows.

The deeper issue is not cheating, though integrity matters. The real question is whether we are stewarding this technology and our students well as future leaders in a rapidly changing world. Too often, institutions remain divided and cautious while time moves forward. Students are graduating into an AI-shaped economy with skills that are already eroding.

The curriculum challenge runs even deeper when measured against the pace of change and the four-year horizon of a degree. Technical knowledge now evolves faster than universities can meaningfully update curricula. The half-life of technical skills has collapsed to roughly two to three years, and most professional skills do not fare much better, with a half-life of no more than five years.[9] Yet our academic systems still require years for industry advances to move through faculty upskilling, curriculum design, approvals, and classroom delivery. By the time students graduate, much of what they learned early in their degree has already eroded. In a world moving at AI speed, a four-year curriculum built for slow, incremental change no longer aligns with the realities graduates will face.

While educators debate whether AI belongs in the classroom, students are adopting it faster than any technology before because it reflects where the market is today, not where most curricula were designed years ago. Yet without the shepherding of educators, this rapid adoption carries real risk. Left unguided, students may gain surface level proficiency while losing depth of thought, independent problem solving, and the judgment needed to recognize when AI outputs are flawed, biased, or inappropriate. They are learning to use powerful tools without understanding their limits or the ethical responsibility that comes with them. This is why universities must move quickly to embrace AI literacy, to ensure students are formed into wise, discerning leaders who can use these technologies responsibly in a world that is only growing more complex.

The Enduring Human Centric Skills

The world is shifting faster than any generation has experienced. Advances in artificial intelligence, automation, and global connectivity are transforming how work is done, how decisions are made, and how value is created. In this environment, the greatest risk is not a lack of technical skill, but an overreliance on skills that quickly become obsolete. What will endure and grow in importance are the deep human abilities that technology cannot replace. This is why a well-rounded liberal arts education is more critical now than ever.

At its core, a liberal arts education develops the ability to think critically and exercise sound judgment. Rather than training students for a single role or tool, it equips them to analyze complex problems, question assumptions, weigh evidence, and make decisions in uncertain conditions. In a world flooded with information and accelerated by AI-generated output, discernment and judgment are no longer optional, they are essential.

Equally important is the capacity to build meaningful relationships. Leadership, collaboration, and innovation all depend on trust, empathy, and communication. Liberal arts education immerses students in history, literature, philosophy, and the social sciences; fields that cultivate an understanding of human behavior, cultural difference, and moral responsibility. These experiences sharpen emotional intelligence and relational skill, enabling individuals to influence, collaborate, and lead across boundaries.

A liberal arts foundation also fosters adaptability. As careers evolve and industries transform, individuals will be required to learn continuously, integrate new knowledge, and move fluidly across disciplines. The liberal arts encourage intellectual curiosity, creativity, and synthesis, the ability to connect ideas across domains and generate insight where others see fragmentation. This adaptability is the cornerstone of long-term resilience and career longevity.

Most importantly, a liberal arts education forms whole people, not just efficient workers. It nurtures purpose, ethical reasoning, and self-awareness which are qualities that guide responsible decision-making in positions of influence. As technology accelerates what we can do, society increasingly depends on leaders who understand what should be done.

Critical evaluation is a core human skill that strengthens judgment and discernment in an AI-shaped world. Rather than accepting machine output at face value, students must learn to question accuracy, detect bias, and assess appropriateness, especially when decisions carry real consequences. Developing the habit of verifying AI outputs against trusted sources and recognizing misinformation or deceptive synthetic media sharpens critical thinking and preserves professional credibility. These judgment-driven skills ensure that humans remain thoughtful decision-makers, not passive recipients of automated answers.

In a rapidly shifting world, the enduring advantage belongs to those who can think deeply, judge wisely, relate authentically, and adapt continually. These are human-centric capabilities, and they are precisely what liberal arts education is designed to cultivate. Far from being outdated, the liberal arts are foundational to flourishing, both professionally and personally, in the age ahead.

A Biblically-Centric Foundation

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the world with breathtaking speed. Capabilities that once seemed distant are now embedded in everyday life, influencing how we work, learn, communicate, and decide. In such a rapidly shifting landscape, the greatest danger is not technological failure, but moral drift. As tools grow more powerful, the question is no longer simply what AI can do, but what it should do. A biblical foundation provides the firm grounding needed to navigate this moment with wisdom, humility, and hope.

At the heart of a biblical worldview is the conviction that every human being is made in the image of God (imago Dei). This truth establishes an unshakable standard of dignity that no machine can replicate or replace. In an age where efficiency, automation, and optimization dominate decision-making, Scripture reminds us that human worth is intrinsic, not instrumental. AI must serve people, not reduce them to data points, outputs, or means to an end.

A biblical foundation also anchors our understanding of purpose and meaning. Scripture teaches that humans are God’s workmanship, created for good works prepared in advance (Ephesians 2:10). AI can assist, augment, and accelerate—but it cannot define calling, vocation, or ultimate purpose. Without this grounding, there is a real risk that productivity replaces purpose, and convenience displaces calling. Biblical wisdom ensures that technology supports human flourishing rather than hollowing it out.

Ethical boundaries are another essential gift of Scripture. The Bible consistently warns against the misuse of power and the illusion of control, from the Tower of Babel to the prophets’ critiques of injustice. AI presents similar temptations: to centralize power, manipulate behavior, or prioritize efficiency over mercy. A biblical foundation calls leaders to steward AI with justice, compassion, and humility (Micah 6:8), resisting uses that exploit, deceive, or dehumanize.

Scripture also emphasizes stewardship. From the opening chapters of Genesis, humanity is entrusted with caring for creation responsibly. AI, like all tools, is part of that stewardship. When guided by biblical values, technology becomes a means to serve communities, dignify work, and glorify God—rather than advance narrow self-interest or unchecked ambition.

Equally vital is the Bible’s emphasis on community and relationship. We are created for relationship with God and with one another. In contrast, poorly designed or misused AI can isolate individuals, replace presence with proxies, and weaken the bonds of trust. A biblical foundation insists that technology should strengthen relationships, cultivate empathy, and support love of neighbor, not diminish them.

Finally, Scripture calls believers to discernment and truth. In an era of synthetic media, generated narratives, and blurred lines between human and machine output, discernment is no longer optional. God’s Word remains the ultimate authority and anchor of truth (John 14:6), enabling believers to test, question, and wisely engage AI rather than uncritically absorb it.

The AI landscape will continue to shift. Capabilities will expand. Norms will change. But biblical truth does not move. It offers a steady foundation—one that helps us continually ask not only Could AI do this?, but Should it?, and How can it be done in a way that honors God and serves humanity? In a world of accelerating change, Scripture provides the moral clarity and spiritual stability needed to engage AI faithfully, responsibly, and redemptively.

The Formation Triangle: Holding Formation, Wisdom, and Relevance in Balance

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes education, work, and society, Christian educators face a defining challenge. The question is not whether students will engage AI. They already are, at unprecedented speed. The real question is whether we will guide that engagement in a way that leads to human flourishing and faithful witness. This moment calls for a balanced framework, what might be called the Formation Triangle, grounded in three essential and interdependent pillars: AI literacy, enduring human skills, and a solid biblical foundation.

At the apex of the triangle sits AI literacy. Students must understand the language of the world they are entering. AI now shapes nearly every profession, from business and education to science, psychology, and the humanities. Without a working understanding of how AI systems function, their limits, their biases, and their appropriate use, graduates risk irrelevance and exclusion from meaningful participation in the modern economy. AI literacy gives students access, credibility, and the ability to engage culture where it actually operates today.

Yet when AI literacy dominates the triangle, the foundation shrinks. Overemphasizing tools without formation produces graduates who may be technically capable but morally unanchored and relationally thin. They learn to optimize outputs without developing judgment, discernment, or responsibility. AI literacy alone cannot define the good life, and when it crowds out the other sides of the triangle, it quietly undermines it.

At the bottom left of the triangle are enduring human skills. These include critical thinking, sound judgment, creativity, empathy, communication, adaptability, and the ability to build trust and influence others. These skills are not made obsolete by AI. In fact, these skills grow more valuable as machines take over routine tasks. Human skills enable students to build trust, shape judgment, and influence others as they evaluate AI outputs rather than accepting them uncritically. They allow leaders to integrate technology into wise, value-driven decisions and to guide people through change, not merely manage systems. Without these relational and judgment-based skills, AI use becomes shallow, reactive, and ultimately untrustworthy. But human skills on their own, disconnected from technological fluency, risk cultural irrelevance.

This is where Scripture offers a powerful reminder. Daniel was found to be ten times more excellent than the magicians and enchanters of Babylon, not because he rejected the knowledge of his day, but because he mastered it while remaining faithful to God. Daniel competed within the dominant systems of his culture, spoke the language of power, and demonstrated extraordinary human skill, all while consistently glorifying God. His influence flowed from both competence and character. Human skills that do not engage the realities of the world may be virtuous, but they struggle to be transformative.

At the bottom right of the triangle lies the biblical foundation. This is the anchor that gives the entire structure stability and meaning. Scripture affirms the dignity of every human being as made in the image of God, grounds purpose beyond productivity, and provides moral clarity in moments of power and temptation. A biblical foundation answers the most important questions AI cannot. Who are we? What are we called to do, not just what can we do? Without this foundation, technological skill and human capability lack direction and drift toward self-interest or efficiency at the expense of love, dignity, and humility.

Yet biblical formation, when isolated from AI literacy and human skill development, also has limits. If students do not understand the systems shaping society, they are less able to bring light into its darkest corners. Faith that does not engage the tools, language, and structures of the world risks becoming private rather than prophetic.

The Formation Triangle reminds us that formation is not a choice between faith and relevance, or between wisdom and technology. It is the disciplined work of holding all three together. Christian educators are called to help students understand AI, cultivate enduring human skills, and stand firmly on biblical truth, not sequentially, but simultaneously.

When the triangle is in balance, students are prepared not only to succeed, but to serve. They can speak the language of AI, demonstrate the love of Christ through human presence and wisdom, and navigate a complex world with discernment and confidence. This is not merely an educational strategy. It is a vision of formation worthy of the moment we are in, and faithful to the calling we have been given.

Biola Business School: Forming Leaders for the Good Life

As artificial intelligence accelerates, higher education faces a defining challenge: how to prepare students for a rapidly changing world without sacrificing the formation that gives learning its meaning. At Biola University, the response is not to choose between faith, human development, or technological relevance, but to intentionally rebalance all three. The business school is rewriting the educational playbook around a simple conviction: wisdom, not just competence, must lead us into the future.

At the foundation of Biola’s approach is a biblical worldview that will not be compromised. Every student completes a robust Bible curriculum designed to help them see all of life through the lens of God’s Word. Scripture anchor’s identity, shapes moral discernment, and ground’s purpose in the Imago Dei. In an age of accelerating tools and shifting norms, this biblical foundation provides stability that technology alone cannot offer.

Building on that foundation, Biola broadens formation for business and professional students by embedding six enduring human skills into every course, whether accounting, marketing, or organizational leadership. Emotional intelligence, social influence, collaboration, critical thinking, ethical decision-making, and adaptive leadership are not treated as soft skills or electives. They are core outcomes, taught, practiced, and assessed alongside professional principles and emerging AI tools within every single course. The result is graduates who can think clearly, relate wisely, lead ethically, and adapt faithfully.

To support technological fluency without surrendering discernment, Biola’s Artificial Intelligence Lab serves as a university-wide resource for engaging cutting-edge tools. The lab equips students and faculty to experiment with AI while grounding that exploration in Christian ethics, human dignity, and theological reflection. It acts as both an innovation hub and a moral compass, ensuring that technical capability rests on a bedrock of biblical wisdom rather than drifting toward unexamined efficiency or power.

The business school also brings this integration to life through the PERLA process (Professional, Exploratory, Research, Learning, Application), which reorients courses around formation, wisdom, and relevance rather than content delivery alone. In the marketing curriculum, classrooms are often flipped into a coaching model. Students use AI as an exploratory tool to scan markets, analyze data, and generate hypotheses before class. Class time then becomes a sense-making lab, where students verify insights, debate implications, and connect strategy to human behavior, ethics, and biblical purpose.

Students move from exploration to research, learning how to validate AI outputs, critique assumptions, and synthesize findings. They then apply insights to real problems, using current tools supported by the AI Lab while being evaluated not only on technical outcomes, but on enduring human skills, professional judgment, and biblical reasoning. Importantly, faculty intentionally activate PAIA (Putting AI Aside) moments, where AI is removed to deepen critical thinking, originality, and moral reflection. PERLA ensures AI accelerates learning without replacing formation, demonstrating how AI literacy, human skills, and biblical wisdom can be held together in a balanced, classroom-ready model.

Students are ultimately evaluated on three dimensions: AI literacy and professional skill, enduring human capability, and biblical thinking. Together, these form what might be called the Formation Triangle. When any one side dominates, the triangle collapses. Too much focus on AI literacy shrinks formation. Too much focus on foundations without fluency limits influence. Too much focus on human skills alone risks irrelevance. Biola’s commitment is to keep the triangle in balance.

The Deeper Calling of the Good Life

At its core, the call to rebalance AI literacy, enduring human skills, and biblical formation is not about institutional relevance or competitive positioning. It is about faithfulness. Christian education exists to prepare students to love God and love their neighbors in the real conditions of the world they are sent into. In this generation, that world is unmistakably shaped by artificial intelligence.

Learning to use AI well is therefore not optional. It is an expression of love. If graduates lack the technical literacy required to enter modern workplaces, they lose access to entire mission fields. If they cannot speak the language of the world, they cannot bear faithful witness within it. AI literacy becomes a doorway to presence, influence, and service. It allows believers to work alongside colleagues, build trust, and embody Christ’s love in spaces where the gospel may otherwise never be heard.

Yet this same technology is shaping people at their most vulnerable moments. Millions now turn to AI systems during episodes of anxiety, loneliness, depression, and crisis. These are not abstract users. They are classmates, coworkers, neighbors, and members of our churches. If Christians do not understand how these systems work, where they help, where they harm, and where they must be set aside, we forfeit our ability to guide others with wisdom and compassion. Our students must be prepared not only to use AI, but to recognize when it should be constrained, challenged, or replaced by human interaction.

This is why the Formation Triangle matters. When AI literacy stands alone at the top, formation collapses into efficiency. When biblical foundations exist without fluency in the tools shaping society, faith risks withdrawal rather than engagement. When human skills are emphasized without technological relevance or spiritual grounding, influence fades. The good life emerges only when all three are held in disciplined balance.

This work begins with educators themselves. We cannot guide students through a technological landscape we refuse to enter. Faithful stewardship requires that faculty and leaders engage AI firsthand, test its strengths and failures, and develop shared standards rooted in biblical truth. Only then can we shepherd students wisely, modeling discernment rather than fear, courage rather than avoidance.

The task is not easy. Universities already carry immense pressures, and AI adds another layer of complexity. But we move forward with confidence not because we have mastered the technology, but because we serve a sovereign God who calls us to faithfulness in every generation. This moment is not a threat to Christian education. It is an invitation.

When the Formation Triangle is held in balance, students are formed to enter the world with competence and compassion, fluency and faith, conviction and humility. They are prepared not just for jobs, but for lives of influence. Not just for innovation, but for love of neighbor. Not just to keep pace with change, but to lead with wisdom in the midst of it.

This is the deeper calling before us. And it is one worth answering now.

Notes:

[1]Josh Freeman, Student Generative AI Survey 2025, HEPI Policy Note 61, Higher Education Policy Institute (February 6, 2025), available online: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/student-generative-ai-survey-2025/.

[2] The State of Enterprise AI 2025 Report, OpenAI (December 8, 2025), available online: https://openai.com/index/the-state-of-enterprise-ai-2025-report/.

[3] Alexander Bick, Adam Blandin, and David Deming, “The State of Generative AI Adoption in 2025,” On the Economy (blog), Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (November 13, 2025), available online: https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2025/nov/state-generative-ai-adoption-2025.

[4] Paul Estes, “3 AI Governance Framework Questions Keeping Leaders Awake,” Virtasant (blog) (August 5, 2025), available online: https://www.virtasant.com/ai-today/3-ai-governance-framework-questions-keeping-leaders-awake.

[5] Ayush Chopra et al., “The Iceberg Index: Measuring Skills-Centered Exposure in the AI Economy,” arXiv, version 2 (November 26, 2025), available online: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2510.25137.

[6] “New Lightcast Report: AI Skills Command 28% Salary Premium as Demand Shifts Beyond Tech Industry,” Lightcast (July 24, 2025), available online: https://lightcast.io/resources/blog/beyond-the-buzz-press-release-2025-07-23.

[7] “The future of jobs report 2025,” World Economic Forum (January 7, 2025), available online: https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/.

[8] Rachel Wells, “71% of employers prefer AI skills above experience in 2024,” Forbes (November 5, 2024), available online: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelwells/2024/11/05/71-of-employers-prefer-ai-skills-above-experience-in-2024/.

[9] Sonia Malik, “Skills transformation for the 2021 Workplace,” IBM Institute for Business Value (2020), available online: https://www.ibm.com/new/training/skills-transformation-2021-workplace.

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Michael Arena

Dean, Crowell School of Business | Biola University

Joseph Hartono

AI Lab Co-Founder | Biola University

Darryl Jung

Director, AI Adventure Studio | Biola University