Preachers and AI

[Ernie]

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/pastors-usi ... _permalink

How pastors are using AI.

[Ernie]

I personally try to avoid using AI for anything that might change the content. I want my messages to be what the Holy Spirit lays on my mind.

I don't ask AI for sermon topics or outlines or anything like that. I do use AI for research, just like I used to do with lexicons and other Bible help books.

I don't think I have done this yet for a sermon, but I have done it for other writings. I sometimes ask AI for suggestions if I am trying to say something, but the sentence structure or grammar sounds awkward. (I used to get my wife or daughters to help with this.)
I like to ask AI to keep the same content that I wrote and not suggest changes to the meaning.
So far, I don't think I have done this with a sermon, but I would not be opposed to doing this if needed.

I'm wondering where the rest of you pastors come out on this.

And I'm glad hearing from non-pastors as to how you hope your pastors will prepare sermons with or without the use of AI.

[JohnH]

I really hope this does not become more common.

If I want to read or hear an AI generated sermon, I have my own account and can prompt it and listen to the sermon at home.

My time and attention (and everyone else’s) are limited and are valuable. Generating low quality AI generated material and expecting me to read or listen to it shows that the person who created it didn’t want to spend their own time on it, but expects me to spend my time on it. It is a pernicious form of disrespect.

[Bootstrap]

I don't ask AI for sermon topics or outlines or anything like that. I do use AI for research, just like I used to do with lexicons and other Bible help books.

I don't think I have done this yet for a sermon, but I have done it for other writings. I sometimes ask AI for suggestions if I am trying to say something, but the sentence structure or grammar sounds awkward. (I used to get my wife or daughters to help with this.)
I like to ask AI to keep the same content that I wrote and not suggest changes to the meaning.
So far, I don't think I have done this with a sermon, but I would not be opposed to doing this if needed.

I'm wondering where the rest of you pastors come out on this.

And I'm glad hearing from non-pastors as to how you hope your pastors will prepare sermons with or without the use of AI.

I'm a preacher but not a pastor. And I use AI pretty much the way you outline above, including brainstorming better ways to word things.

[JayP]

I wonder how good the AI’s Latin is?

[ken_sylvania]

I would hope that the preachers at the church where I attend are not using AI to "improve" their sermons.

[Soloist]

I wonder how good the AI’s Latin is?

Wife: I’m relatively ignorant of how a standard Catholic service goes, but aren’t all the Latin parts from standardized prayers or Bible text? I thought homilys were in the local language

Although it does sound funny thinking that someone might start accidentally reading a user agreement or something, and people might not know the difference.

[Soloist]

Wife: I honestly think a lot of people at our church would frown on the idea of AI assisted sermon. I wouldn’t be surprised if it occasionally happened for something like wording, but I think the effort of developing the sermon and finding the passages seems like it should be an important part of it. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if some devotions might have AI assistance, but I think it should be used super cautiously. We were talking about it when one of our children had to do devotions at the school and I think it is a dangerous precedent, although sometimes they borrow books from the teacher.

[JohnH]

I wonder how good the AI’s Latin is?

Tam bona, spero, ut Cicero ipse eam corrigere dubitet.

[Ernie]

I would hope that the preachers at the church where I attend are not using AI to "improve" their sermons.

I don't think I have done this yet for a sermon, but I have done it for other writings. I sometimes ask AI for suggestions if I am trying to say something, but the sentence structure or grammar sounds awkward. (I used to get my wife or daughters to help with this.)

Are you fine with wives and daughters helping a preacher with sentence structure/grammar if he is having trouble?

And what about using AI for something like this on occasion, as long as it is not being used to polish the entire sermon?