Throughout time, we have seen the unfortunate consequences of unchecked human creations. Originally invented to simplify transactions between people, money is now the driving force of human inequality worldwide. In a similar vein, originally a way to explain the unexplainable, religion is now a driving force of separation, hatred, and terrorism. We’re at a turning point in humanity—either we will learn from our mistakes with money and religion to work together for our salvation, or we will be the reason we’re destroyed by our latest evolving creation: artificial intelligence.

First, let’s talk about that green little demon. Ah, yes, money. We’re slaves to money, stuck on the hamster wheel of work-more-to-earn-more-to-spend-more, and we are insatiable. We think corporations are evil for stealing our money and criticize our governments for using it unwisely, but our banks rise higher than our churches. We basically worship money at the same time that we blame it for the world’s problems. Yet, as Lynne Twist teaches in her book Soul of Money, money has power over us only because we’ve forgotten that it is a human creation. If we change our mindset around money, then we no longer need to view money as evil. It is like water: abundant, meant to flow, and toxic only when it’s stagnant. Twist reminds us that a more prosperous existence begins with shifting our relationship with this human creation from one based in fear to one based in love.

Now, this brings me to religion. Religions have served many purposes over the centuries. They’ve attempted to answer life’s deepest, hardest questions. They’ve created communities of support and brotherhood for the least of us. They’ve housed the outcast, cared for the sick, and fed the hungry. They’ve produced texts with sacred wisdom, moral codes, and ethics. They’ve taught spiritual practices for mankind’s conscious development, and they’ve brought people together with hope for a better future.

Unfortunately, like with money, we’ve allowed religions to also become destructive forces of their own. They’ve been used to justify slavery, wars, and genocides. They’ve oppressed minority communities and given an outlet to fundamentalist extremists for waging terrorism and violence. They’ve fallen corrupt to greed, lust, and power and misconstrued messages about death and the afterlife, leading some to lead lives from a place of fear rather than a place of love. Notice how we’ve circled back to fear and love with religion as well.

Finally, let’s talk about artificial intelligence (AI), the next force that humans will inevitably lose control over. There is no doubt that great strides have been made with artificial intelligence in the past decade. Think self-driving cars and virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa. There is no doubt that AI can make our lives better! However, there is also a dark side to AI, so much so that 72% of influencers agree AI is the great danger of the next fifty years. AI has the potential to be more intelligent and capable than any individual human and even groups of the most intelligent humans put together. If technology equipped with AI decides that humans are more trouble to keep around than not—perhaps more destructive to the planet than beneficial—then it will act on that logic alone.

Thus, the challenge is how to program AI to make decisions from a place of love rather than fear. If we can learn anything from our past mistakes with money and religion, let it be that we create from love and remember this original intent when our creations evolve so that we may keep them in check. For religious leaders of diverse traditions, this means working closely together to promote the most compassionate and love-based practices of each faith. For AI developers, this means programming your creations with interfaith-based cooperative values, whether you’re religious or not. Dialogue and collaboration are key to increasing our chances for a prosperous future.

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