How does AI impact me?

 Several weeks ago i began noticing an uptick in my conversations regarding AI and the impact on family, business, and church. I wouldn't say most of the communication was from an overabundance of knowledge and mostly sharing of concerns and opportunities. 

What really turned my attention was an article regarding the trends with youth and the use of AI among people for things they used to see their pastor, teachers, coaches, parents, counselors, doctors and lawyers for. No kidding, this is such a big switch in humans seeking personalized compassionate help for life's toughest issues. For instance a woman was asking AI if she should get a divorce, another asking if she should have an abortion, a man asking the risks of getting caught cheating, a youth asking dating advice and the list goes on and on. One that really caught me was a newer AI app, that is targeting youth and carry the tag line something like, "It's like having a youth pastor and coach right in your pocket.

Now i am careful to mention names, of certain AI options and app options as i would prefer to sound the caution in general and let you search the specifics.

I recently attended a pastoral conference where the speaker was a young man who was very knowledgeable. I would probably call him an expert in this field and as you can imagine the terminology and principles were over the majority of the attenders heads. With a background in electronics and specifically the repair and maintenance realm, I felt I would be more in touch with the technology but things are so quickly moving, it was a day of education for sure.

The presentation was pretty good and then we turned to the specific discussion on AI in the church. This grabbed my attention because i already know of students at all levels using AI to write research papers and this is from 1st grade through college including seminary.  It didn't take long for someone to ask about the morality of using it for those papers, and before you knew it we were in heavy discussion regarding writing sermons. I am at a loss for words to hear how many pastors use AI to write a sermon in a matter of a few minutes. 

The discussion revolved around the term "temperature". This is the liberty AI has in coming up with your answers. You can adjust it and force it to be more conservative or totally out there. We were given examples of how the response would change based off of the temperature setting and even in the tightest setting you have a technology that takes the most current and popular information and uses that to compile responses. 

When  you get your report or sermon or response back you can tighten the parameters, but know this before you move in that direction. AI is directional. The instructor took a response and wrote new objectives but AI kept building on what it had already presented, only tighter to the requirements. Yes it made more sense, and yes it read more comprehensive, but AI does not back up. The example with the instructor was three settings of the temperature and a statement like, the apple was -------. AI was supposed to finish the sentence. The conservative setting said something like red or tasty or something, the middle setting kept adding new words each time saying it had a big furry worm, and the crazy one said something so crazy the sentence didn't even make sense. 

I am overly cautious on the use of this dumbing agent we call intelligence. When it comes to your personal use, can I just caution you on the use of it when it comes to life decisions, spirituality and relationships? I see screen time for our children exploding and with every moment they are being monitored, not so much for protection unless you put that on, but for usage. If we sign into our AI accounts that now every phone and computer have, you will begin to receive responses to your inquiries that are eerily like your searches and anything you are doing on those devices.  All I can ask is that you will consider limiting your youths use, check the settings and talk to them about the moral implications of using AI. 

You have been warned. Just like the computer taking over the typewriter, or the cell phone taking over the pager, AI is here and will not be leaving. Companies are scurrying to make it mandatory and even church sermon software like logos have added AI components to their programs. Proceed with caution. 

Till next time

P.M. 

Lots of Changes.

What a whirlwind of events. We are making progress on updating our blog and are so excited about some of the things coming. For instance we started our own channel on YouTube with our 4E Media face. I'll announce more on this later:-) I have been debating areas of study to begin and will announce that soon as well. As I have been preparing for Christmas it seems almost bitter sweet. It seems as though I read in scripture of the many prophecies and then in the New Testament read about the arrival of the Saviour only to look at the news and observe the greed and materialistic mobs on good Friday. Yes I must admit, I was in line at Wal-Mart waiting for an x-box 360 that Mason had been saving for.This was my first "black Friday" experience and am still somewhat confused that it was at 10pm on Thursday that we were there. Consider it a sudo-experience. Anyway as I am seeing people pushing and shoving and jockeying for the best position you could not spot any Christians, from my angle at least. "How do I know" you might be wandering. You see I have a theory that Christians reflect Christ, although that almost sounds to cliche, I really believe it. Christians have a priority of seeking God and honoring Him with their lives. Though we mess up it is noticeable in a mob setting like this, or at least should be. The reality is statistically speaking most of the crowd would profess to be Christian and yet live like the world. I found it amazing that a young lady by herself in front of us and a middle aged man also in front of us, stood in line by themselves engrossed with their techie phones. All it took is for me to ask where they were from to begin an hour of conversation that not only revealed that these two had lived just miles from each other in a southern state, but they both had common acquaintances. As we neared the pallet that brought us together it was easy to see that the Lord had intended for our paths to cross. Upon leaving the gentleman said that after one and a half years here this is the first conversation they have had of any value of getting to know someone. The young lady quickly agreed and commented that once people found out they weren't from this area they were treated extremely rude. We parted ways with a thankfulness and allegiance that local or not people want to be accepted and belong. This Christmas use every opportunity you can to show who you are in Christ and share it, without hesitation, boldly, that you might be used to change a life. Talk to you soon! I'm going to play x-box.
 

investment in your family

The past several months I have met with a group of people in a forum called "family matters". Kind of a double meaning. Of course the obvious that our families are of a significant importance to us is the foundation, but the subtle meaning of looking into the matters that families deal with day in and day out is less obvious but of substantial importance to our relationships under the same roof. I am bummed that tonight is our last night but we will be having the Dickinson police here to discuss the trends in the school and the issues that we as parents, aunts and uncles, gma's and gpa's may not be up to date on. Having a police presence on campus was always for inner city schools growing up so it is a harsh reality that schools across the nation have been locked down and enforcement brought in. Have you ever asked yourselves why that is, or even how exactly our kids experience at school differs from ours and what impact does that have on our families. Well its not to late to join us this evening at 6:30pm and we will allow a time of q and a for things that may not have been covered. Hope to see you tonight and thanks to the couples that week in and week out joined me in discussing these things.
Equipping the saints
Mark

Just a quick note

1st Thessalonians has come to mind several days already this week as people petition prayers for events in their lives. Some praises, some anxieties, and some outright panic. Not knowing what else to do they turn to a resource of unrecognized power. A "lifeline" of hope and encouragement. Of course many of us try all to hard to fix things on our own, without realizing that we're only postponing the inevitable. Of course v17, in the 5th chapter of Thessalonians, is snuggled in between 16, and 18. "No kidding Sherlock", may be your first thought. However v16 says to rejoice always, v17 pray without ceasing, and v18 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. As family isn't it nice to know we can turn to our Father? Knowing that our siblings cry when we cry and laugh when we laugh because we're in this thing called life and we are interdependent, not independent. Why not reach out today and encourage someone around you, get involved with the family. You'll be glad you did. Till the next pastor pod, good day.
Mark