Is AI Going to Take Over the World?
Answering your most-asked questions with a crossword on the side and extra whipped cream on top.
Is AI Going to Take Over the World?
Is AI Going to Take Over the World?
Answering your most-asked questions with a crossword on the side and extra whipped cream on top.
Read Time: 3 min 22 sec | Listen to Podcast | Watch on YouTube
─────── September 19, 2026 ───────
Happy Saturday!
Hey friends. There have been a LOT of headlines on AI lately, and some of them can easily leave us feeling unsettled, like leaders in the industry sounding alarm bells about something called recursive self-improvement.
So today, we’re doing something a little different. In this email, we’ll take a shallow dive into recursive self-improvement, but for our podcast, we had the privilege to sit down with Tony Reinke, author of the book God, Technology, and the Christian Life, and ask him the question on everyone’s mind: How should Christians think about AI?
Read along with us here, then head to the podcast to hear Tony drop some encouraging wisdom.
New here? TPO Explains does a shallow dive into your most-asked questions every Saturday.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
BREWING QUESTIONS
WHAT YOU’RE ASKING
Why is everyone panicking about AI?
Throw back to about a week ago: employees at AI companies began publicly calling on industry leaders to pump the brakes on AI development.
The concern? Progress has become so rapid that AI might outrun humans’ ability to control it, and it could start doing dystopian-movie-wipe-out-humanity-level bad stuff. See the three-step plan Anthropic’s CEO put on the table.
But how could AI “outrun” humans?
The concept worrying company executives and researchers is called recursive self-improvement (RSI): the stage where AI models can begin designing and developing their own successors.
How does recursive self-improvement work?
It’s basically a feedback loop.
RSI is when an artificial intelligence model studies its own performance, figures out what upgrades would help, builds them, then uses the improved version to upgrade itself again, theoretically getting faster and more accurate every time.
Why is this concerning?
There are two big worries:
- If AI can start improving itself, the rate of progress becomes exponential. So, a project that would take humans years (e.g., using AI to build a bioweapon) could arrive far sooner.
- If humans lose the ability to steer AI, we might not be able to stop it from doing something catastrophic.
Wait… is this actually possible?
Some industry leaders think so. Others aren’t so sure.
A July study found that AI was really good at engineering but not so good at the judgment, creativity, and open-ended thinking (cough cough, the human stuff) needed to achieve RSI. Give an AI agent a huge, several-day task and it’ll get lost in the sauce because it lacks the necessary problem-solving skills.
TL;DR, we don’t know yet. Even Anthropic points out that a self-improving AI still can’t turn a stranger into an old friend in a weekend. Some things move at human speed.
But here’s one thing we do know…
___
GOD IS IN CONTROL
In the words of Tony Reinke, “Every motivated scientist and every human innovation and every wielder of those innovations all operate in subservience to God’s love for his people. God is unfolding his plan, which is the ultimate good and the final vindication of a blood-bought people, paid in full by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!”
God, Technology, and the Christian Life; Page 72
“Look, I have created the craftsman who blows on the charcoal fire and produces a weapon suitable for its task; and I have created the destroyer to cause havoc. No weapon formed against you will succeed, and you will refute any accusation raised against you in court. This is the heritage of the LORD’s servants, and their vindication is from me.”
Isaiah 54:16-17 (CSB) (read full passage)
Want to be further encouraged by Tony’s tech wisdom? Check out our special TPO Explains episode where we talk with him about AI.
FROM OUR PARTNERS 🤠
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HOUSE BLEND
WHAT YOU’LL ENJOY
Solving this week’s semi-AI-semi-Jesus themed mini crossword.
Revisiting #7 of our top 10 Whipped Cream on Top posts of all time.
This gorgeous all-in-one Bible journal. Created by TPO Reader Nicole S., the Seek First Journal is a one-stop shop for all your prayer/Scripture/sermon/quiet-time journaling needs. In it, you’ll find three months’ worth of daily reflection pages to help capture what you’re learning in the Word, monthly reflection prompts, and even space for Sunday notes. Grab one before your next quiet time!*
*This is a free promo for a TPO-reader-owned small biz. Have your own small business you want us to know about? Fill out this form!
WHAT YOU’VE BEAN CLICKING…
Top News Link: The top news link y’all clicked this week was a full list of the Emmy winners.
Top Christian Perspective: A reminder of the source of every good and perfect thing. Download and save it here.
Top Whipped Cream: We’re runnin’ through our top 10 Whipped Cream On Top links ever, and this week’s standout was number 10.
TAKE IT TO GO
WHAT WE’RE RECOMMENDING
What’s Helping People Through Recovery
Tyndale’s Life Recovery Bible*
Battling addiction can feel like being trapped in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Those who fight that fight (and those who love them) know how tight addiction’s grip can be, but there is hope, freedom, and victory in Christ.
The Life Recovery Bible helps you stay rooted in that truth. It’s packed with practical notes, devotionals, and themes that fully align with and integrate the Twelve Steps, building a foundation of recovery on the life-changing, sturdy Word of God.
With multiple translations and sizes, there’s an edition for you; get or gift a Life Recovery Bible today.
*From our partners
WHAT WE’RE PRAYING
God Our Creator, You are the Great Inventor of Everything, the only One Who creates out of nothing things that did not exist before; Who speaks, and the universe bursts into being to do Your bidding.
Our most impressive creative acts are just a rearranging of Your handiwork, an imitation of Your sacred ordering. We puff our chests and celebrate our feat—toddlers whose blocks faintly echo the Taj Mahal. But You don’t scorn or scoff at us. Like a proud parent, You celebrate when our building enriches Your world, and correct when our tower twists Your divine design out of order.
O Divine Orderer, teach us our place in Your kingdom’s pattern. Direct our use of technology to build up others and point to Your good design. May we seek in every work to reflect You, never to rival You, Our Matchless King of Creation. Amen.
Want more guided prayers to bring peace in a storm of headlines? You’re looking for Praying the News. Sign up here; we’ll text you the 5-minute audio episodes every Monday.
LEARN WITH US
Each week, we do the deep shallow dive so that you don’t have to. We bring what we learn not only to this email, but we sit down and talk about it, too. Check out this week’s episode of TPO Explains... just click on the episode below.
