Should preachers use artificial intelligence when writing sermons?
Surprise! It is very likely that they are already.
Almost all modern IT applications jumped on the wagon of artificial intelligence (AI) – not necessarily to replace basic functionalities but to improve it. Better grammar, faster referencing, complete sentences depending on your writing style, and more.
However, I suspect that this question arises more than simply Improvements. He asks questions about this – the machine – writing whole sermons or at least significantly contributing to them.
But before achieving this, some reminders for this place at the time of AI: most of the text or images previously published that the machine uses to serve these incredible compilations was gathered without the authorization of the original creators, a violation of the copyright law. (The courts work through it. Slowly.) The necessary calculation power is incredible. (Hence the renewed interest in nuclear energy to provide juice for these machines.) What we do not know about the functioning of AI goes beyond what we know. (Be notified: it is not because it spits a text perfectly composed of the text Cognitive unloadingA term used to describe what happens to humans when we adopt new technologies. (Think of printing, calculators, GPS, Google research, etc.).
Back to your question. While I listened to thousands of sermons, I am not an expert to write them, so I went to an expert: Scott Hozee. Scott is director of the Center for Excellence in Preaching at Calvin University. He thought about it a little but admitted that he thought out loudly when he wrote: “If a sermon is only facts and characters and truths wrapped in a certain way, I suppose that AI could accomplish as much. If a sermon is only information, AI will not.
On a podcast on the church juice (Reframe Ministeries), Kenny Jahng of Churchtuday.com added useful caution on the use of AI: “The way you have to think of these chatbots is as a very very green seminar.”
Sermons writing is a creative business. All the creative people I know need to exercise their creativity to remain lively, committed and, in the end, satisfied with their work. The AI can make certain things fast and easy, but I fear that if we let the machine have fun, it will do what we have to do quite dull. And our listeners will certainly notice the manifolding human in our work.
