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7 Advantages You Have as a Latter-day Saint in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
This new technology will bring change. But you’re well-equipped to handle it.
You may have heard about artificial intelligence (AI). It’s the next big thing, apparently—computers that can respond and generate things in ways that seem similar to human intelligence.
You may also have heard a few predictions about artificial intelligence. Things like: “It’s going to take away our jobs!” “It’s going to create new jobs!” “It’s going to destroy the world!” “It’s going to make the world better!”
We don’t know exactly what will happen, but one thing is certain: AI tools and technologies are already causing quite a stir.
As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you have some spiritual advantages in this emerging age of artificial intelligence that can help you have more joy and peace. You can learn about them in the scriptures and the words of modern prophets. Here are just seven of them, in no particular order.
1. You know your true identity and worth—and the worth of every child of God.
You’re a child of God. So is every person on earth. Your Heavenly Father’s work and glory is to help us become like Him (see Moses 1:39). “The worth of souls is great in the sight of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10). Knowing your worth—and the worth of every person—means that you value what we children of God are and what we can do.
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has warned that AI “has the potential to obscure our true identity as sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father.” But you won’t allow the seeming ease and power of AI to blind you to the fact that human beings (aka children of God) matter most in God’s eyes. Not money, not convenience, not some vague notion of “progress,” but people. You value what children of God can do and create.
2. You know that technology can be used for good or evil (or foolish) purposes.
Any tool or technology can be used for good or bad. You’ve been warned about this before. (For example, using the internet to do family history is awesome; using it to access pornography is very, very not awesome.) Then there’s the stuff that’s not especially good or bad but just foolish—for example, all the mindless, pointless time-wasters out there in the infinite scroll.
Similarly, some uses of AI can be very good (for example, using it to and translate languages or to compile sources to research a topic). Then again, some are bad or foolish (for example, using it to write a sacrament meeting talk, cheat in school, or make deepfake videos of famous people).
Common sense can guide you in how you think about AI, but more important, the Holy Ghost can help you discern what’s good or bad (or just plain foolish) about it (see #5).
3. You value your agency.
Your agency—your ability to choose and act—is a big deal. Satan sought to destroy it when he rebelled against Heavenly Father in the Grand Council before we came to earth (see Moses 4:3). So, what does AI have to do with agency? Elder Bednar has warned us: “Because AI is cloaked in the credibility and promises of scientific progress, we might naively be seduced into surrendering our precious moral agency to a technology that can only think telestial. By so doing, we may gradually be transformed from agents who can act into objects that are only acted upon.”
Because you value your agency, you won’t let AI suffocate it by surrendering all of your time, attention, creative energy, and decision making to it. And you may even exercise your agency by not choosing to use AI at all if possible. That’s the power of agency: you choose; you act.
4. You love truth.
Because you’re a disciple of Jesus Christ, you love truth. So, the idea of using AI in any way that would be dishonest or deceptive feels wrong. It may be tempting to pass off AI-generated work as your own. But because you love truth, you won’t do that.
In addition, you know how to seek for truth. You know that if AI gives you information but doesn’t point you to trustworthy sources for that information, you should be cautious about trusting it.
And you know it’s just a tool, not the source of truth from God. That’s found in the scriptures and words of prophets, as well as through the Holy Ghost. As Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught, “Artificial intelligence cannot replace revelation or generate truth from God.”
5. You have the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The gift of the Holy Ghost can help you discern the good and bad uses of AI. This gift can also bring you comfort and peace in a world that seems to have been thrust into political, economic, and moral turmoil in the wake of this emerging technology. As you are faithful to your covenants, you have God’s promise of this guidance and comfort (see Doctrine and Covenants 82:10).
6. You value learning, working, and growing.
The purpose of Heavenly Father’s plan is for us to become more like Him. Because you know this, you know that being lazy all the time runs counter to that purpose. And so you know that saying, “Just let AI do it,” all the time is not the point. Living and learning are about developing your mind, your skills, and your knowledge; it’s not about outsourcing your thinking and judgment to a machine.
And because you know that “the Lord loves effort,” you know that the process of learning matters at least as much as what you produce as a result (papers, assignments, tests, grades, degrees, sacrament meeting talks, and so on), because the process is where growth happens.
As Elder Bednar has taught, “The objective is not merely producing or presenting impressive content; rather, it is working and becoming what God intends and yearns for us to become.”
7. You value connection to God and His children.
You want real, direct connection to Heavenly Father through prayer, scripture study, and other spiritual means. You won’t let AI get in the way of that connection. You also want real connection to people. You don’t just want an imitation of human companionship. You want the real thing. You want to connect with other children of God, who have spirits and minds and bodies.
As Elder Bednar has said: “An AI companion is only a mathematical algorithm. It does not like you. It does not care about you. It does not really know if you exist or not.”