I have never quoted Elon Musk before, but here goes: “The rate of improvement of AI is faster than any technology I’ve ever seen, by far”. [1]
I have often dipped my toes in the measureless waters of Ai and found it, so far, incomprehensibly fast and extremely helpful. For example, I have asked it to provide the source of a quote or to check the source of a quote; I have asked it to produce a logo or representative image for a topic; we have used it to record and summarise the Minutes of a Board meeting. Perhaps the thing I have found most helpful up to this point in time is to do something I am particularly not good at – produce half a dozen discussion questions on a biblical passage, which I have then adapted for my own style and purpose.
I am not an expert in Ai or technology but I do know that, like all technology, we need to approach it as our servant and not our master.
In recent days I have read a couple of excellent articles on the implications of Ai for preachers. and wanted to recommend them here.
Some weeks ago John Piper wrote an excellent piece in his Ask Pastor John Series, entitled, Should I Use AI to Help Me Write Sermons? Please read the whole article, but it won’t surprise you to know that in his concluding paragraph he wrote
“Let’s use ChatGPT and other sources that are coming along for information, even for inspiration, just like you use commentaries and articles and books and songs and poetry. But don’t use it for composition unless you’re going to give credit for it. So, if you’re going to have ChatGPT write your first draft and you’re going to tweak it, then you better say to your people, “ChatGPT, artificial intelligence, has composed the word of God for you this morning.”
The second stimulating and helpful article was written by Tony Reinke: Authentic Preaching in the Age of AI. It’s lengthy but immensely helpful and comes from a Christian writer who has given this whole subject a great deal of thought and really knows what he is talking about.
If you want to skip the lengthy section about the possibilities and dangers of AI, the second part of his article is an excellent exposition of Eight Marks of Authentic Preaching; “the eight sacred priorities [which] ground us in the age of AI possibilities”
[1] quoted by Tone Reinke at Authentic Preaching in the Age of AI | Desiring God