How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the World…and the Church

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GUEST: JAMES SPENCER, President, D.L. Moody Center 

You’ve no doubt heard about “artificial intelligence” also known as “AI”. Simply put, artificial intelligence is when a computer program, designed by humans, collect vast amounts of data on a given subject, then sort through and learn trends from that data far faster than any human mind, and then make recommendations or even take action based on analysis of the data.

You likely are already using AI even if you don’t know it. For example, AI programs are tracking the websites you visit, the products you research, the content you search for online. Once the AI program collects this date about you and compares it with the patterns of others, product ads or content recommendations start appearing on the Internet pages you visit because AI has concluded that you want or need something and so it takes action to meet that want or need. This is why when you do a search for new car tires, all of a sudden ads for tires start appearing on every website you visit.

If you were to get cancer, AI can analyze everyone in the world who has the same cancer, narrow the field to those of similar biological makeup, and then recommend treatments that were successful in others similar to you. No doctor could process all the health data on millions of people and offer such a data-based recommendation.

AI is powerful because of its ability to collect, process, and learn from vast amounts of data and then provide recommendations or solutions it deems best.

But “best” according to whom? What happens when government or the CIA uses AI to identify those who oppose the people and policies of those in power and then takes away your ability to buy, sell, speak, or travel? What happens when the military uses AI to conduct war, allowing computer programs to make decisions? These and countless other scenarios have the potential for leading the world right into authoritarian rule…right where Scripture states it will under the Antichrist.

And finally, AI is already impacting the church. From using language AI programs like ChatGPT to generate newsletters, worship service format, and even create the sermon, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how data-driven computer programs will drive the church rather than Spirit-filled qualified men.

James Spencer, president of the DL Moody Center, joins us on The Christian Worldview to discuss How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the World…and the Church.
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• James Spencer has written a free guide for the Moody Center titled, “Twenty Questions: Christian Resistance, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence.”
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