Mr. Dillard, Editor,

With the risk of sounding anti-AI, I found a striking lack of references to the spiritual nature of missions in the latest edition on AI. Like a footnote on 56 pages of text, I could only find one short paragraph addressing the spiritual ramifications of using AI.

As the author of the book, Innovation in Missions, some may find it odd that I am providing such a critique against what some think is the most innovative thing to happen in our lifetime.

I’d like to ask your readers to pause and consider: Where does AI fit within the context of listening and following the voice of our Father God? What are the guardrails? What are the cautions? What are the dangers?

Today, we can ask AI to create articles, songs, music, presentations, podcasts, and even full-length videos. AI can be a tremendous tool for shortcutting accomplishing individual tasks, but we must ask ourselves, are we managing the inspiration of the Spirit of God, out of his mission?

When we ask AI to create a video or a song for us, does AI stop to pray and ask God, “God, what do you want me to communicate through this song/presentation/talk?” If the mission task is fulfilling God’s plans to redeem this lost world, we must fully rely on God and his leading for the accomplishment of his task. The leading of the Spirit must be center in everything that we do.

AI is a tool, but it is entirely different than simply using grammar check. It’s capable of building incredible things. However, we must remember, AI is nothing more than a statistical language modeling tool. It has no soul; it is not capable of following Christ. Meanwhile, God is wanting, waiting, yearning, expectantly waiting to speak to us and inspire his children. His inspiration sometimes challenges us into doing the most seemingly absurd things in carrying out his will.

We must remember, following the inspiration of God is our central task in everything that touches Christian mission.

Where is the inspiration of the Spirit in writing sermons or trainings? What about writing a worship song for an unreached people group? We all would say these are “spiritual” tasks. While we can relegate these to a statistical Large Language Model (LLM, the technical name for AI programs), we need to ask, “Should we?”

Significant amounts of time chatting with LLMs has shown to create what is being called “LLM Psychosis,” in which delusional, paranoic, or manic beliefs in users are induced, amplified, and even polarized. This results in users experiencing intense, sometimes reality-distorting beliefs, often resulting in a number of emotional and attachment-based issues.

With all the introduction of AI, we should probably pause for a moment and as expressed through God’s Spirit to Haggai, “Give careful thought to your ways.”

Should we really be relegating spiritual tasks and the creation of “spiritual content” to statistical models that have clearly shown to end in delusional, psychotic beliefs? And what of “non-spiritual” tasks, like marketing and accounting? Is the marketing for new missionaries or fundraising any less of a spiritual task? What of accounting? God has ordained all kinds of tasks within Christian mission as “spiritual work.” We must remember, within all these tasks, God is at work within our minds, to guide us and lead us.

In my book, Innovation in Mission, I wrote about how God is the most creative being in the universe, and he created us to be creative. Letting AI be creative for us, keeps us from doing the very work that God ordained for us to do.

Gene Veith, in God at Work, talks about how Christian vocation is a spiritual exercise. The creation of jobs which provide ethical, meaningful work that betters our world, while providing workers with wages to adequately provide for their families, is a God-ordained institution. Might we need to consider to what extent does giving “spiritual tasks” requiring “divine inspiration” to a statistical Large Language Model end up going against the very will of the Father?

Romans 8:6 itself says that “the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” These LLM’s are not governed by the Spirit. They are governed by statistical processing of whatever input they have been given. Their “minds” have been fed by the totality of the internet, which we know includes a majority of very ungodly content. And we’re ready to relegate tasks to statistical models based upon… “this?”

There’s increasing research showing that a significant proportion of AI responses are incorrect or wrong. Part of the reason is the whole “garbage in, garbage out” problem. AI models are fed everything, including Reddit posts and other chat rooms, which are essentially just online idea popularity contests governed by upvotes. Reddit “subs” “TrueChristian” has a shocking amount of ungodly advice that’s surprisingly upvoted, especially when marriage problems are shared. You’d be surprised how quickly “divorce” is suggested and upvoted, compared to other suggestions.

The answer to these AI models isn’t to simply control the inputs. Mission Frontiers briefly touched upon the challenge of hallucinations, which is the propensity for AI to completely make stuff up. The statistical nature of these LLMs often results in answers that have no basis in reality. There are numerous cases where AI even creates its own fake research papers that back up false claims. The challenge is related to the very basis for how AI works as a statistical model, simply predicting what thoughts and words should follow next.

The Christian community should give pause to consider if, when, how, and where AI should be properly utilized. As 1 Corinthians 10:23 states, “‘Everything is permissible,’ but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible,’ but not everything is edifying” (Berean Literal Bible). There’s increasing research that shows that excessive AI usage leads to cognitive atrophy, reduced critical thinking, and even critical decision-making errors.

All said, my biggest caution with AI goes back to the fact that our God is the most creative being in the universe, and he created mankind in his image to likewise be creative. His Spirit guides us and inspires us as we use the faculties which he has endowed to us. And I believe it brings him joy when we do so.

Peace,

Derek Seipp