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Many faith leaders observe the development velocity of AI and worry their church communities are lagging behind in terms of creating policies for using ChatGPT, Google Gemini and other AI models.
Some of the concern is rooted in the decentralized nature of many faith traditions, such as evangelicalism and Judaism, leaders said Wednesday at the Athens Summit on AI Ethics in Greece.
“My mind is running a million miles a minute,” said the Rev. Dr. Jeanette Salguero of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition. “AI chatbot problems disproportionately affect Black and Brown kids. It’s baffling to me that we’re not talking about this.”
1st Amendment Partnership president Tim Schultz called it a knowledge gap among pastors and other congregational leaders.
“If a congregation or conference or denomination needs help, reach out to those who have (a policy),” said the Rev. Dr. Marian Edmonds-Allen.
The Rev. Dr. Salguero and other leaders expressed hope they can learn from the principles and policies for AI that now guide Latter-day Saints, but they identified hurdles to replicating them.
Some others have created guidelines, like the Southern Baptist Convention and Reform rabbis, but it’s The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ centralized leadership that makes it a shining example of efficiency and organization, said Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders.
Several religious leaders were surprised, for example, to learn Wednesday that Latter-day Saints have a General Handbook to guide their 32,000 congregations.
But the decentralized nature of evangelicalism and Judaism make it difficult to duplicate those efforts.
“No centralization like that can be expected in Israel or Judaism,” said Dr. Doran “Dodie” Katz, dean of the Truman Scholars Program at Tikvah, a Jewish educational institution.
The Rev. Dr. Salguero and Dr. Katz made those statements during a discussion at a table that included Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
“Latter-day Saint guidelines on AI are very specific about what the purposes of AI are,” he said during the interaction.
Elder Gong also told the group, to general agreement, that Latter-day Saint leaders believe people should not allow AI to come between them and their personal relationship with God.
Here is what the Church of Jesus Christ has published to help guide nearly 18 million members around the world:
4 principles for appropriate use of AI in church assignments
Senior Latter-day Saint leaders updated the General Handbook in December to provide four guiding principles for AI use:
- If members use AI, they should do so in positive, helpful and uplifting ways that uphold the integrity, standards and teachings of the church.
- AI cannot replace the individual work and spiritual guidance required to prepare divinely inspired talks, lessons, prayers or blessings. However, AI can be helpful for research, editing, translation and similar tasks.
- Leaders should not rely upon AI to provide advice to members on medical, financial, legal or other sensitive matters. If members need assistance beyond the spiritual guidance provided by church leaders, competent professionals may be helpful.
- Sensitive information, such as church records, personal member data or confidential communications, should not be entered into AI tools that are not provided or managed by the church.
The overarching theme comes from the example Jesus Christ set in the Bible, which included powerful interactions with the people around him:
“He sought divine direction from his father,” the handbook states. “He relied on the scriptures and prayer. He lived and taught only those things he learned from his father.
“He had a personal and sacred relationship with his father. He prayed to his father, learned from him and fulfilled his will. Jesus also had meaningful relationships with others. He listened to and talked with them, understood their needs and ministered to them.”
To see the handbook section on AI, visit section 38.8.48 here.
7 principles that guide church employees
The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have set seven guiding principles on the use of AI in the work of church employees. Elder Gong issued the guidelines in March 2024. They are organized into four groups:
Spiritual Connection
- The church will use artificial intelligence to support and not supplant connection between God and his children.
- The church will use artificial intelligence in positive, helpful and uplifting ways that maintain the honesty, integrity, ethics, values and standards of the church.
Transparency
- People interacting with the church will understand when they are interfacing with artificial intelligence.
- The church will provide attribution for content created with artificial intelligence when the authenticity, accuracy or authorship of the content could be misunderstood or misleading.
Privacy and Security
- The church’s use of artificial intelligence will safeguard sacred and personal information.
Accountability
- The church uses artificial intelligence in a manner consistent with the policies of the church and applicable laws.
- The church will be measured and deliberate in its use of artificial intelligence by regularly testing and reviewing outputs to help ensure accuracy, truthfulness and compliance.
Additional principles from church leaders
“AI is not and cannot be God,” Elder Gong said in November, when he also said the church is setting boundaries that bar the use of AI in the preparation of talks for the church’s biannual general conferences.
The church also will not use AI to create images of deity, the apostle said then.
Elder Gong is co-chair of the church’s Correlation Executive Committee, which oversees an AI working group that includes many church departments.
In Athens this week, he shared a lofty vision for what AI could do for human beings but cautioned that it would require developers to guide their AI systems appropriately.
“We will not fulfill AI’s full potential until we make it as morally good as we make it powerful,” he said. He added, “I want AI to have moral compass that can inspire and enable anyone anywhere with the gift of possibility to do good and become their best self.”
Read more at the two links below.
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