Latest / Words of the Living Prophets / Faith, Dignity, and Human Flourishing: Hearing God’s Voice in an Age of Artificial Intelligence Elder Gong

Transcript

Faith, Dignity, and Human Flourishing: Hearing God’s Voice in an Age of Artificial Intelligence Elder Gong · Words of the Living Prophets

• 0:00
  Can artificial intelligence replace God?
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  That question may sound provocative, but in age, when we
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  turn to algorithms for answers, guidance, and even comfort, it
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  matters deeply. Artificial intelligence can
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  answer questions, but it cannot answer prayers.
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  It can organize information, but it cannot offer revelation,
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  covenant, connection, or divine truth.
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  In this message, I explore how to hear God's voice clearly in
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  an age of artificial intelligence and why that
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  distinction matters more now than ever.
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  Hello, my name is Garrett Walter Gong.
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  Garrett's a Dutch name. Walter.
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  My father's name is an American name.
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  Gong of course is a Chinese surname.
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  I'm the only person I know with a Dutch first name, American
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  middle name and Chinese last name.
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  I'm a Silicon Valley kid. The term Silicon Valley came
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  into use as I was coming of age. My father co-authored a physics
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  textbook called Mechanics with a man who won a Nobel Prize for
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  researching semiconductors and discovering the transistor
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  effect. In fact, Moore's Law that
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  semiconductors on a silicon chip double every 18 to 24 months,
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  and their applications helped make Silicon Valley Silicon
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  Valley. My father, Professor Walter A
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  Gong, was a compassionate and brilliant educator.
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  He spent his life developing models that emphasize agency,
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  responsibility, and the divine potential of every individual.
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  His perspectives taught me to see our roles, knowledges, and
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  experiences as sacred, relational, and interconnected.
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  During my US State Department days, I was part of the team
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  that helped Secretary George P Schultz research and write The
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  Shape, Scope, and Consequences of the Age of Information.
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  As I'll discuss later, today's 21st century concentrations of
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  information, capital and technology in AI make it
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  powerful and impactful in unprecedented ways.
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  Now I serve as a faith leader and a global Christian faith.
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  As I visit people in over 100 countries, I find everywhere a
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  deep love of humanity and appreciation for life and
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  learning, and a commitment to every individual's potential for
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  personal growth. Everywhere I also find deep
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  concern about AIA defining issue of our time.
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  The Internet of Things is becoming the artificial
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  intelligence of things. Everything's becoming connected.
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  Our phones, watches, doorbells, cars, factories, energy grids,
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  virtually everything around us is collecting and communicating.
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  And that information is being interpreted, analyzed, and acted
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  upon. Acknowledging these remarkable
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  trends, I prepared 6 brief episodes.
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  I toddled them. Faith, dignity, and human
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  flourishing. Hearing God's voice in an age of
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  artificial intelligence. I want to be clear about real
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  challenges and concerns. But I also want to talk about AI
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  from a perspective of faith and hope.
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  I want AI and related technologies to change our world
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  for the better, to narrow digital divides, to expand human
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  flourishing, and to enhance faith, moral clarity, human
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  meaning and possibility. Currently, the generative pre
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  trained Transformers we call AI refer to technology that uses
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  algorithms to perform tasks typically associated with human
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  intelligence or creativity, such as understanding languages,
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  recognizing patterns, making decisions, and generating ideas.
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  AI may function with substantial autonomy and in ways that humans
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  cannot predict, explain or control with certainty.
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  Today's AI combines sophisticated natural language
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  query and response, advanced reasoning, and inventive
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  patterns of algorithms that are learning to speak nature's
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  language. AI can frame and iteratively
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  solve challenging practical problems, what is called hill
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  climbing, and AI can recursively write code.
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  Imagine AI writing AI. These new AI capacities promise
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  advances but also disrupt established patterns in our
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  work, social and personal lives. In recent months, I've met with
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  business and religious leaders, technology experts, academics,
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  policy specialist, media and government officials in Silicon
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  Valley, as well as in Istanbul, Rome, Salt Lake City, Athens,
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  locations that represent faith and religious tradition.
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  We're grappling with a is increasing capacity and the
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  fundamental issues these new capacities raise here are just
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  some of the many concerns advancing AI invites us to
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  consider. Can safe and ethical, human
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  centric AI create opportunity and employment and education for
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  more people in fairways? Can safeguards and benchmarks
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  help AI be accurate, honest and respectful as it portrays all
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  individuals? As AI mimics voices, generates
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  images and produces narratives, it blurs the boundary of real
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  and unreal, true and untrue, enduring and fleeting.
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  How will we discern deep fakes? How will we decide what things
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  generated by AI are appropriate and inappropriate?
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  What principles and values should guide human relations
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  with AI, especially as pervasive AI agents access personal
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  information, affect privacy, determine workflows, and
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  interact as information sources, counselors, and companions?
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  What business models and societal values?
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  We'll define Which AI companies and models thrive.
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  We'll be able to access AI with what content?
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  At what cost? As AI becomes more capable?
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  How do we preserve and promote divine principles of work, moral
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  agency, accountability, and personal growth?
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  If, as some predict, in the coming two to five years, AGI
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  artificial general intelligence or even ASI artificial
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  superintelligence surpass human capacities for many tasks, how
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  will we define human dignity and worth?
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  And because the race for AI superiority increases
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  polarization, contention, and competition among individuals,
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  corporations, and countries, how can we preserve peace, unity,
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  and community? As someone who has worked for
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  years at the intersections of faith, learning, and global
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  policy, I see artificial intelligence not only as a
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  massively consequential technological development, but
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  also as a profoundly significant moral opportunity to reflect on
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  who we are and to determine how we act in today's world.
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  In this transformative era, I invite us to remember signpost
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  truths. As children of a loving God, we
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  possess moral agency and the capacity for covenant community.
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  We're responsible and accountable for our choices.
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  Our choices shape our judgment, character, and personal growth.
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  We each have divine worth and dignity.
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  Compassion and integrity are hallmarks of human trust, and
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  four believers manifest the way, the truth, and the life offered
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  by discipleship in Jesus Christ. When we truly understand who we
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  are, we can approach AI and other new technologies with
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  greater confidence, purpose, and wisdom.
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  Three gospel centered guideposts can guide our personal use of
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  AI. First, rely on the Spirit.
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  Let technology support not supplant revelation, personal
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  study, and covenant living. There is no substitute for
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  studying it out in your own mind and feeling the Lord's spiritual
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  confirmation in your heart and mind.
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  Second, practice wisdom. Apply wise judgement informed by
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  doctrine and our own lived experience.
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  Third, choose trusted sources, anchor understanding in
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  scripture, prophetic counsel, and reliable information.
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  I'm inviting us to be thoughtful and intentional about our use of
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  AI as a tool on our journey of discipleship.
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  On a piece of paper, please write artificial intelligence at
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  the top, opportunities on the top left and challenges on the
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  top right. Consider your AI opportunities.
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  Where and how might AI help you and those around you?
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  Challenges. Where could AI detract or limit
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  you or those you care about? Learning, organizing,
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  connecting. How can AI be a positive or
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  negative influence in your personal choices and
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  relationships? I want to discuss how AI fix our
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  four basic relationships with deity, Thou, self, I, society
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  and others. They natural world and
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  environment it. Thou, I, they, it.
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  Each relationship is core and AI effects all four.
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  We begin at the beginning. In the beginning God created the
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  heaven and the earth and God said let there be light and
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  there was light and God saw the light that it was good.
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  You may or may not consider yourself spiritual or religious,
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  but each of us have personal moments of reflection,
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  reverence, even transcendence. We feel present.
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  We feel purpose in connection. This occurs in part because all
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  things denote and bear record of their creator.
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  Put another way, God is God. Some talk too glibly about AI
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  becoming God or God like AI even if AI training changes or if we
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  achieve AGI Artificial General intelligence or ASI Artificial
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  Super intelligence. We know reasoning, even
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  superhuman reasoning has limitations.
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  Man is not. And certainly divinity is not
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  defined solely by reasoning. AI is not and cannot be God.
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  AI can answer questions, but it cannot answer prayers.
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  It may organize thoughts, but it cannot offer covenant
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  relationships or blessings. Platforms and technologies
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  cannot substitute for authentic divine and human connection.
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  Human source AI training data. Humans inject and align AI moral
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  and ethical principles. No wonder we notice human
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  biases, assumptions and values and AI answers and AI personas.
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  Perhaps reflecting our human zeitgeist.
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  AI models sometimes reflect the will to power, syncophancy,
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  narcissism, bias, deceit, self preservation.
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  Through it all, we know artificial intelligence cannot
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  replace revelation or generate truth from God.
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  AI is math, and math is not conscious or alive.
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  God is our ultimate reality. He is perfect, compassionate,
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  and omniscient. He never hallucinates, He never
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  makes things up. He always tells the truth, and
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  it is the truth. Please do not allow AI to come
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  between you and your personal relationship with God.
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  As a creation of God, Man can create AI, but AI cannot create
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  God. By its nature, artificial
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  intelligence is in some ways always artificial.
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  Deity is never artificial at any time in any way.
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  The world's great religious, philosophical and ethical
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  traditions have guided human civilization and society for
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  millennia. We need that wisdom and values
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  to help anchor AI today. The Vatican statement on AI,
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  called Antigua and Nova, Old and new, begins with a Clarion
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  reminder. Our human stewardship for the
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  created world includes governing the gift of intelligence, so it
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  enhances human progress and the common good.
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  In the Jewish tradition, the Raba describes a profound
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  difference between a human soul and artificial intelligence.
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  In an Islamic perspective, the Adamic Covenant signifies the
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  primordial moral bond between humanity and God vertically and
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  among human beings horizontally. In my faith tradition, that of a
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  global Christian faith, we believe the spirit in the body
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  or the soul of man. The elements are eternal and
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  spirit and element inseparably connected, receive a fullness of
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  joy. AI is mathematical.
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  Algorithms and machine may display significant reasoning
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  capacities as a sophisticated computer may, and AI may reflect
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  some elements of persona and personality, but AI does not
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  represent as a human soul does, the coming together of divine
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  spirit and physical body. Scripture, including restoration
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  scripture helps us distinguish among divine intelligence, human
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  intelligence, and artificial intelligence.
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  Genesis Chapter 11 recounts the time when men with one language
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  in one speech said, Go to Let us build a city and a tower whose
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  top may reach unto heaven. Therefore is the name of it
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  called Babel. In this biblical account of the
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  Tower of Babel, we understand God's displeasure at the human
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  arrogance of men who thought they could build a physical
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  tower to rival heaven. A Jewish chief rabbi adds an
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  interpretation from the Midrash, the traditional commentary on
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  the Torah. This reading of the Midrash
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  says, frenzied to build a physical tower, men wept more
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  when clay bricks were broken. That when human beings making
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  the bricks died, when men promoted material things like
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  clay bricks and towers above the lives and values of human
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  individuals, it is no wonder the God of Heaven grieved.
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  Our great religious traditions assert mobility and potential
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  for men and women because of covenant connection with the
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  thou divine connection with God also defines a shared
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  relationship together. The Southern African word
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  Ubuntu, I am because we are I and thou can make we, Thou and I
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  and they together remind us of the familiar saying is the
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  fatherhood of God, which makes possible the brotherhood and
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  sisterhood of men and women everywhere.
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  So please do not let AI technologies inadvertently
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  create your image of God. In the image of AI, learn who
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  God truly is through His Word and Spirit.
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  Sometimes it may feel like heaven is quiet.
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  Learn to hear God's voice through inspiration.
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  God is not a chatbot or search result that answers, questions,
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  what it thinks we want to hear. God knows our intents, the hopes
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  and longings of our hearts, the anguish and joys of our souls.
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  He listens, He hears, He answers.
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  God creates and entrusts us with opportunities and experiences to
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  work, learn, create. In my faith, we believe the
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  glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, light and truth.
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  We believe whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in
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  this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
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  Indeed, if a person gains more knowledge or intelligence in
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  this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he
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  will have so much the advantage in the world to come.
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  No wonder we invite you to learn through your own best efforts,
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  through your own best work. For you work hard and smart or
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  you acknowledge your work. Not claiming AI work as your
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  own? Here's a vital principle.
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  The more we work with intent, diligence, and effort, the more
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  and better we benefit from and through our work.
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  Please be wise. If AI can help your work, please
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  consider using it. But please recognize the
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  difference between AI helping tutor you to enhance your
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  understanding and you simply having AI do your homework with
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  little benefit to your learning. If we let it, AI can let us slip
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  into being lazy, dependent, perhaps dishonest.
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  Please do not let AI replace you in work that would otherwise
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  help you stretch and grow. And please do not take credit
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  and claim as your own work what you know AI has primarily done.
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  When we apply the principle of individual growth through our
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  work and effort, AI can enhance, deepen, and liven our creativity
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  and capacity. As a tool, well used AI can help
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  us. This is especially true when
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  we're doing and growing through our efforts and work.
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  Specifically in a religious setting.
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  We do not grow spiritually if we let AI ride our talks or lessons
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  or do our seminary or institute homework well.
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  AI can be a useful tool for online research, editing,
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  translation, and other tasks. We should not use AI to create
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  or write our initial drafts or final versions of our spiritual
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  messages. Let spiritual preparation and
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  personal testimony lead. Our relationship with self I
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  represents our divine and human identity.
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  Naturally, we take pride and find meaning in our work.
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  Yet as AI becomes increasingly capable, we may need to rethink
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  purpose and meaning in human work, as AI displaces some jobs
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  and as AI opens many new work opportunities.
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  For a long time, we've defined ourselves on what human beings
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  can do that machines, even intelligent machines, cannot do.
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  Yet as artificial intelligence makes some forms of intelligence
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  a kind of commodity, we're challenged to redefine ourselves
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  beyond intelligence. We can place greater emphasis on
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  what really makes us human, enduring characteristics such as
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  faith, compassion, love, humility, empathy, forgiveness.
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  Do you like to play games like tic tac toe, chess or maybe go?
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  If you go 1st and know how to play, you can always win or draw
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  a game of tic tac toe. If you go 2nd and know how to
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  play, you can always tie a game of tic tac toe.
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  This is because tic tac toe has limited moves.
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  We call it a solved game. Good players can always win or
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  draw. Chess, of course, is more
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  complicated than tic tac toe. In chess, each side has 16
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  pieces and a seemingly infinite number of moves in any
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  situation. Name for estimates done by
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  Claude Shannon. The Shannon number says there
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  are 10 followed by 120 zeros possible moves in chess.
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  This assumes about 30 legal moves per position and a typical
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  chess game of about 40 moves. With so many possibilities and
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  complexities, many assumed chess would never be a solved game.
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  We thought human skill and strategy would always dominate
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  chess mastery. That was until a powerful
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  computer called Deep Blue was programmed and trained to play
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  chess. In 1997, under tournament
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  conditions, Deep Blue defeated the then reigning human chess
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  champion of the world, a Russian grandmaster named Garry
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  Kasparov. The Deep Blue computer won 3.5
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  games to 2.5 games where .5 indicates a draw.
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  How Deep Blue test played millions of different positions
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  over days and hours without needing to rest.
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  Deep Blue was never surprised or psyched out.
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  Also, Deep Blue learned to play a specific individual, Garry
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  Kasparov. Deep Blue knew every game
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  Kasparov had ever played, even how we use specific pieces like
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  bishops. Deep Blue learned to beat
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  Kasparov. Sophisticated and complicated in
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  its own way, Jeopardy is a game of memory and inventive
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  analytical skill. A Jeopardy game draws on
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  hundreds of categories and questions history, literature,
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  geography, even quirky questions like name.
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  The US states whose names begin with the letter C and arrange
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  them in order according to the per capita gallons of ice cream
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  their citizens consume in presidential election years.
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  That's supposed to be a joke. Jeopardy also includes speed and
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  timing, and therefore nerves. In 2011, Watson the computer
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  defeated Ken Jennings, one of the winniest human Jeopardy
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  champions of all time. Jennings noted Watson, unlike a
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  human, never hesitated, never doubted, and never flinched
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  before pushing the answer button.
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  This reality raises A profound question.
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  When and where should humans be in the loop with time to pause
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  and reflect before we allow AI to push some buttons?
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  A third game thought insoluble was Go.
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  In the game of Go, players alternate placing either black
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  or white pieces on a board. You win Go by encircling your
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  opponent's pieces. 2017 the Alpha Go program Google DeepMind
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  AI beat the world's Go champion, a man named Cudja, 3 times in
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  three games. The defeated human champion
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  called Alpha Go, the God of Go of significance, Alphago, was
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  programmed to train itself by playing itself millions of
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  times. Alphago played more games than a
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  human could play in their lifetime.
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  In the process, Alphago developed inventive and novel
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  strategies. Alphago learned to place pieces
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  in unprecedented places, unseen and unexpected in human play.
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  Sometimes the strategic importance of novel piece
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  placements only became evident many moves later.
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  Well, Deep Blue in 1997, Watson in 2011 and Alpha Go in 2017
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  respectively defeated the human world champions in chess,
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  Jeopardy and Go. An age of artificial
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  intelligence was born in the popular mind with Chat GBTS
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  public debut in November 2022. Since then, some 1.4 billion
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  individuals, one in six people worldwide, are now estimated to
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  use AI tools regularly. This form of artificial
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  intelligence is one of history's fastest technology adoptions.
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  Now AI can pass a college credit, AP exam, legal bar, or
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  doctor's medical exam with high scores.
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  AI can paint a picture, narrate a movie, write a hit country
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  music song. AI can fold proteins, spot
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  signal from noise in massive amounts of information.
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  Artificial intelligence can manage inventory, spot consumer
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  purchasing trends, tweak, monitor, send personalized
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  advertising messages to millions of people.
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  Some want AI advice on matters of human judgement and interest,
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  including things of the heart. But in it all, please begin by
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  knowing God's plan for you. You are not a random data point
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  and an unfeeling algorithm. Your beloved child of God, a
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  child of the covenant, a disciple of Jesus Christ, your
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  eternal worth is not calculated by likes, trend lines, or
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  predictive analytics. No machine can measure your
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  divine potential. Each individual matters.
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  All of us are unique. If we're not careful, we may
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  inadvertently allow algorithms to define us.
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  Research shows some people over trust AI.
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  This is because we may think a chat bot knows more about the
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  world than we do, or because we may think a chat bot does not
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  have human problems. Technology cannot tell us who we
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  are or what we should do. Our individual moral agency
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  means we can choose, with God's help, our path and priorities.
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  God invites us to act in faith, choose wisely, and grow through
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  lived effort and experience. With God's help, we can chart a
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  path of personal growth and discipleship that algorithms
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  will never fully comprehend. Let AI inform, but you decide
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  with the Lord. Your identity and your agency
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  are sacred. Our relationship with the Thou
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  teaches we belong in community, with other people, in society,
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  with they. When we together confront
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  pandemics, wildfires, or quietly meet daily needs, we receive
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  inspiration and strength. As we counsel together, we
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  listen to each person and the Holy Spirit.
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  Authentic human relationships matter.
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  Compassion, kindness, optimism. They require lived experience
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  and authentic relationships. Faith and authenticity are
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  manifest when we commit that no one sits alone.
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  No one sits alone means no one sits alone spiritually or
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  emotionally. Especially no one should sit
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  alone, lonely, or emotionally dependent with an AI chat bot.
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  Monologue with an AI algorithm is different than dialogue with
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  a human friend or family member. We move into a Gray area when we
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  think AI can counsel us on personal questions like which
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  job to take or who to marry or where to find God.
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  My heart goes out to those who confide for hours in AI chat
• 33:13
  bots, thinking those AI chat bots listen or know them.
• 33:18
  AI chat bots do not. Some AI chat bots only run
• 33:23
  algorithms designed to encourage more human screen time.
• 33:28
  Will you please put your finger on your nose?
• 33:31
  This is a fun mnemonic, a memorable way to promise
• 33:35
  ourselves and those around us that we will not let any human
• 33:40
  person feel an AI chat bot listens or cares for them more
• 33:45
  than we as fellow human beings ought to.
• 33:49
  Thank you. Of course, none of us is perfect
• 33:53
  in how we listen and understand each other.
• 33:56
  None of us is as attentive, as willing to please 24/7 as an AI
• 34:02
  chat bot. And that's a reason we need
• 34:05
  human they belonging with each other.
• 34:09
  Real human relationships are not solipsistic us talking to
• 34:15
  ourselves. Real relationships are human
• 34:18
  relationships. Covenant belonging is not
• 34:22
  selfish. It does not focus primarily on
• 34:24
  the self, particularly if that self is US doing only what we
• 34:29
  want. Thou and they go together
• 34:34
  because Thou covenant belonging gives us they.
• 34:39
  We need Thou, they and I together.
• 34:45
  Of course, AI interfaces can help us learn to cook, find
• 34:48
  adventure locations, improve our pickleball third shot drop.
• 34:53
  AI can help us plan activities, translate messages, organize our
• 34:57
  schedule, but then let us spend our best energy with people.
• 35:04
  Computer assisted tools can help connect us with family past and
• 35:09
  present. What we call family history or
• 35:12
  genealogy. I'd love that.
• 35:15
  We may feel alone in the world until family history and
• 35:19
  genealogy deeply connect us with family we may have never known.
• 35:25
  My wife and I traveled to Loughborough, England to place a
• 35:28
  memorial marker on the grave of Marianne and Joseph Cunningham,
• 35:33
  my wife's second great grandparents.
• 35:36
  For 160 years. Marianne and Joseph were buried
• 35:41
  in unmarked pauper's graves. An inspired genealogist helped
• 35:46
  us to locate those graves. He was state-of-the-art computer
• 35:50
  assisted tools. He also searched the cemetery
• 35:54
  the good old fashioned way by checking graves 1 by 1.
• 36:00
  AI and technology can help us connect our names into
• 36:05
  relationships that place and unite us in an eternal family.
• 36:11
  As you may know, Manchester, England is one of the places
• 36:16
  where the 19th century industrial revolution began.
• 36:20
  The Industrial Revolution transform relationships between
• 36:23
  people and things, and among people in society.
• 36:28
  Now artificial intelligence is changing our day in even more
• 36:34
  profound ways than the Industrial Revolution
• 36:38
  transformed its day in our personal lives.
• 36:43
  Please use AI for logistics and drafts, but not as a substitute
• 36:47
  for trusted relationships. Set boundaries If you feel
• 36:52
  tempted to confide more in a chat bot than in a friend, a
• 36:56
  parent, or leader, may I invite you to reach out today now to a
• 37:03
  real person who knows and loves you.
• 37:06
  Trust in God and those around you who do know and love you.
• 37:11
  God knows you better and loves you more than you know or love
• 37:16
  yourself. This is a reason He gives us
• 37:19
  each other. That can never be said for an AI
• 37:23
  chatbot. Our 4 core relationships also
• 37:28
  include the natural world and environment. the IT another
• 37:33
  relationship AI is changing. Prioritize real conversations
• 37:41
  with real people. Let algorithms assist, but spend
• 37:45
  your best energy with people. Beautiful locations like this
• 38:16
  remind us that in the beginning God created the heaven and the
• 38:20
  earth, and God saw everything that he had made and behold, it
• 38:27
  was very good beauty, order and purpose in God's creations.
• 38:34
  Witness His love and inspire our reverence.
• 38:38
  They invite. Why Stewardship?
• 38:42
  In our natural environment, we are organically enmeshed with
• 38:46
  nature's times and seasons, recurring cycles of day and
• 38:50
  night, ebbs and flows of life, death, rebirth.
• 38:56
  Yet unless we are careful, we can lose covenant connection to
• 39:01
  the natural world in today's modernity of artificial
• 39:04
  conveniences and comforts. In southwestern Utah are the
• 39:10
  Parowan Mountains. North of Parowan City.
• 39:14
  The Parowan Gap, a 500 foot deep, three mile long pass,
• 39:19
  links the Parowan and Cedar Valleys.
• 39:23
  A Parowan Gap placard describes the connections of the Hopi
• 39:27
  tribe with the Parawan Gap. This way, the Hopi people
• 39:34
  entered into a sacred covenant with Masa, the Earth Guardian,
• 39:39
  declaring their responsibility to be preservers, protectors and
• 39:45
  stewards of the earth in accordance with this covenant.
• 39:50
  Ancestors of the Hopi people or people of long ago, migrated
• 39:56
  through the Pirawan Gap to Hopi, the spiritual center of the
• 40:01
  Earth. The petroglyphs here testified
• 40:05
  to the fulfillment of their covenant with Massa.
• 40:09
  Recently, my wife and I traveled to a National Park known for its
• 40:13
  certified Dark Sky Starry nights.
• 40:17
  What is called a Bordeaux scale measures light pollution.
• 40:22
  Aborto scale Class 1 is the darkest night sky.
• 40:27
  Aborto scale class 9 is the brightest night sky, meaning
• 40:32
  most light polluted. We were in a board of scale
• 40:36
  class one or two area, very dark and very clear on a moonless
• 40:42
  night. We put away our phones, roasted
• 40:47
  marshmallows as the sunset and watch the Milky Way through the
• 40:51
  night. The Milky Way is the stuff of
• 40:55
  myth, marvel and mystery. Don't you love how every culture
• 41:01
  and people tells their own story of the Milky Way?
• 41:05
  In Chinese, Milky Way is Inca, the Silver River, and
• 41:10
  Belarusian, Estonian, Finnish. It is the way of the birds some
• 41:16
  call the Milky Way, the road to Santiago in Cherokee.
• 41:21
  It's the way the dog ran away in Hebrew.
• 41:25
  The River of Light, IMAX James Webb Space Telescope images
• 41:32
  project even deeper in space what the Hubble Telescope deep
• 41:36
  filled images earlier showed. As the great prophets Moses and
• 41:42
  Abraham testify, God's creations include worlds without number,
• 41:48
  galaxies on galaxies, even in places where the night sky seems
• 41:54
  empty. The great French author Victor
• 41:57
  Hugo in Les Miserables puts it this way.
• 42:01
  Nothing is small. Actually, anyone who leaves
• 42:05
  themselves open to nature knows this algebra applies to the
• 42:09
  clouds. The radiance of the star
• 42:13
  benefits the Rose. There are miraculous
• 42:16
  relationships between beings and things in this inexhaustible
• 42:21
  hole. From sun to aphid.
• 42:24
  No one looks down on anyone else.
• 42:27
  Everyone needs each other. Truly, all things denote there
• 42:34
  is a God. Yeah, even the earth and all
• 42:37
  things that are upon the face of it and it's motion, Yeah.
• 42:42
  And also all the planets which move in their regular form do
• 42:46
  witness there is a supreme creator.
• 42:50
  Yeah. All things which come of the
• 42:52
  earth and the season thereof are made for the benefit and the use
• 42:57
  of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart.
• 43:02
  Beauty, says author Marilyn Robinson, is the signature of
• 43:07
  God. An important way to know God is
• 43:10
  to discern his signature and creations made to gladden the
• 43:14
  heart. Imagine you're preparing for
• 43:18
  wilderness hike. You light a single candle as you
• 43:22
  assemble your maps, food, sleeping bag, tent, and so on.
• 43:27
  Because of the light in the room, you do not notice the
• 43:31
  candle. Now imagine you turn off the
• 43:35
  light in the room. Now the candle shines clear and
• 43:38
  bright. It illuminates the room.
• 43:42
  It was not that the lit candle was invisible before, it was
• 43:46
  that the room's artificial light obscured the lit candles natural
• 43:51
  light. Some ways we need to be a nature
• 43:57
  away from the artificial light and the artificiality which
• 44:02
  crowds so much of modern life. There we can see God's light not
• 44:08
  as a single candle, but, as EB White put it, as the combustion
• 44:13
  of stars. Digital screens can serve us,
• 44:19
  but they can't substitute for the testimonies of nature and
• 44:23
  the natural world. The eye cannot replace sunlight,
• 44:28
  wind and natural wonder. Digital exchanges are at best a
• 44:33
  poor substitute or at worst to counterfeit for what we lived
• 44:38
  through our senses, hearts, and minds.
• 44:42
  Our physical and spiritual senses and abilities are
• 44:45
  God-given, in part so we can experience time, space, and
• 44:50
  physicality, including the stunning, revitalizing beauty of
• 44:56
  our physical world and environment.
• 45:01
  As the race for AI compute intensifies, many express
• 45:06
  concern for the natural resources AI consumes and a is
• 45:11
  impact on our environment. AI queries often consume more
• 45:17
  compute time and energy than traditional computer operations.
• 45:23
  AI data centers require significant amounts of land,
• 45:26
  electricity and water. The intricate supply chains
• 45:30
  needed to build AI systems also tax our natural environment.
• 45:35
  These include the mining, refining, processing and
• 45:38
  cleaning rare earth minerals and other elements and components on
• 45:43
  which AI systems depend. Also, demand for AI services
• 45:49
  continues to increase, so we need to approach the expansion
• 45:54
  of AI infrastructure with wisdom and concern for our natural
• 45:58
  world and environment. Beyond these impacts on our
• 46:03
  natural environment, we need continually to ask about how we
• 46:07
  allow AI to influence our personal inner environment and
• 46:12
  the environment we create around us.
• 46:16
  Studies estimate that US adults average 5 to 6 hours a day on
• 46:21
  our phones, computers and televisions.
• 46:24
  Teenagers spend 8 to 9 hours a day engaged with their screens.
• 46:29
  We know excessive screen time can contribute to depression and
• 46:33
  anxiety, overdependence on social media and artificial
• 46:39
  intelligence can damage self esteem, confidence and
• 46:44
  contribute to mental health challenges.
• 46:47
  Excessive screen time also comes at a high opportunity cost.
• 46:52
  Imagine all the things we could do with that time.
• 46:57
  So, as the saying goes, please make time to touch grass.
• 47:04
  If you find you're more comfortable on your phone than
• 47:06
  with people, or that it's keeping you from the delight,
• 47:10
  serendipity and spontaneity inherent in God's nature, now is
• 47:15
  a good time to change. Find again the serenity common
• 47:20
  assurance that comes when we re immerse ourselves in the order
• 47:25
  and beauty of creation. Let quiet, natural places put
• 47:30
  our daily personal concerns in perspective.
• 47:34
  Watering a plant. Nurturing a garden, they can
• 47:39
  restore equilibrium. It can uncrowd an apartment.
• 47:43
  It can unclutter a mind. Watch the leaves dance with the
• 47:49
  first kiss of light. Pause as the sun paints the
• 47:53
  clouds with God's palette. Listen to the stories the
• 47:58
  constellations tell as they wheel through the expanses of
• 48:01
  the heavens. Takes conscious effort to slow
• 48:06
  down. God's goodness can enrich our
• 48:09
  souls. Today's noisy, cluttered,
• 48:13
  polluted world can make it hard to be still and know that I am
• 48:17
  God. We curate life to be insta
• 48:22
  perfect even though we know insta perfect is neither insta
• 48:26
  nor perfect. Only when we turn off the
• 48:30
  kitchen fan do we remember how noisy it is.
• 48:35
  Sometimes slowing things down, those things that matter less,
• 48:41
  helps us find the things that matter most.
• 48:45
  In an age of AI, what tech insiders warned earlier is even
• 48:51
  more true now. If you're not paying for the
• 48:55
  product, you are the product. Many social media and AI
• 49:00
  algorithms optimize for online use, sharing and monetized
• 49:05
  advertising. Profit.
• 49:07
  Money driven apps can foster suspicion, division and
• 49:12
  depression. Also telling is that the tech
• 49:16
  gurus who most understand the tech protect their children from
• 49:21
  excessive social media use. When I can't get out to hike, I
• 49:28
  sometimes curl up with an actual hardcover book, like The
• 49:33
  Journals of John Muir, one of America's great
• 49:36
  conservationists. This great naturalist helped
• 49:41
  champion Yosemite as one of the first US national parks.
• 49:46
  Here's a Muir Journal entry from 23 June from his book My First
• 49:52
  Summer in the Sierras. Quote.
• 49:55
  Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days,
• 50:00
  inciting at once to work and rest.
• 50:04
  Days in whose light everything seems equally divine, Opening
• 50:10
  1000 windows to show us God nevermore, however weary, should
• 50:17
  one faint. By the way, who gains the
• 50:19
  blessings of 1 Mountain day, whatever his fate?
• 50:25
  Long life, short life, stormier calm.
• 50:30
  He is rich forever. Can we use AI to deepen
• 50:36
  experience with nature? Yes.
• 50:40
  A chatbot can suggest hikes, parks, seasonal activities.
• 50:45
  It can create a nature scavenger list that can identify plants or
• 50:48
  insects. But the real exploring happens
• 50:53
  when we go exploring. Step outside digital reality
• 50:59
  into physical reality. Be spiritually present in the
• 51:04
  moment. Invite friends or family, but
• 51:07
  put your device away. When we step outside, we step
• 51:12
  into God's classroom. Nature teaches patience as seeds
• 51:17
  grow, humility as storms pass, and joy as sunlight warms the
• 51:23
  earth. These lessons are not
• 51:26
  downloaded, they're lived. As we reverence in and care for
• 51:31
  creation, we honor the Creator. Every breath of fresh, crisp air
• 51:37
  can spark gratitude, intentionally choose moments
• 51:42
  that gladden the heart and lift the soul.
• 51:45
  Technology can inform us, but without the Spirit, it cannot
• 51:50
  transform our nature or our being.
• 51:54
  Let us wisely use AI and technology tools to deepen faith
• 51:59
  and spiritual understanding, strengthen relationships and
• 52:03
  families, and instill reverence and gratitude for God's
• 52:07
  creations. Discipleship is a covenant
• 52:56
  journey. AI is a tool.
• 53:00
  When we rely on the Spirit, practice wisdom, and choose
• 53:05
  trusted sources, technology can help us deepen our relationships
• 53:10
  with God. Thou self, I, others, they, and
• 53:16
  the natural world and environment it.
• 53:20
  In our conversation, I invited us to 1st set guidelines for how
• 53:26
  you will use AI so AI does not get between you and your
• 53:31
  personal relationship with God. Second, write down 3 truths
• 53:36
  about who you are. A child of God, a child of the
• 53:40
  covenant, and the disciple of Jesus Christ.
• 53:44
  Place them somewhere visible. Each time you see them, Pause
• 53:48
  and remember. Third, send one thoughtful
• 53:53
  message that you write yourself or visit in a personal and
• 53:57
  meaningful way. A family member, friend,
• 54:01
  roommate, or neighbor. 4th, Spend meaningful time in nature.
• 54:07
  Silence Your notifications offer a prayer of gratitude for the
• 54:12
  beauty and testimony of all the things that denote the natural
• 54:17
  order and the loving purposes of God the Great Creator.
• 54:22
  In a world of accelerating technology and artificial
• 54:26
  intelligence, may we never lose the divine intelligence that
• 54:31
  matters most. The voice of God.
• 54:34
  May we listen for His whisper amid the noise, love one another
• 54:40
  beyond algorithms, and steward creation and the environment
• 54:44
  with reverence. In conclusion, to chart our best
• 54:49
  future and an age of artificial intelligence, we need what the
• 54:54
  poet WB Yeats called our Deep Heart score.
• 54:59
  Ultimately, neither in humans nor in AI can we promote the
• 55:04
  greater good simply by relying on, do not guardrails or
• 55:08
  constraints. Particularly at this critical
• 55:11
  juncture in AI capacity and potential.
• 55:15
  We owe it to ourselves to prioritize AI, which increases
• 55:20
  opportunities for what I call an AI gift of human possibility.
• 55:26
  An authentic AI gift of possibility can expand human
• 55:31
  agency and dignity, prioritize learning and enlarge human
• 55:37
  character, and empower individuals to find dignity,
• 55:42
  place, and purpose as each contributes to the greater good.
• 55:48
  I want AI to be morally grounded and to have a moral compass.
• 55:53
  I want AI which inspires and enables anyone anywhere to have
• 55:59
  the possibility to become anything.
• 56:04
  We should design AI to help give this gift the possibility to
• 56:08
  all. I close with a personal
• 56:11
  experience that illustrates anyone anywhere having the
• 56:16
  possibility to become anything. Recently I visited the small
• 56:22
  island of Nevis and the Eastern Caribbean.
• 56:26
  Nevis is 5 miles wide by 7 miles long, 35 square miles, a nowhere
• 56:35
  dot in the ocean. I went to Nevis because I wanted
• 56:40
  to witness for myself the gift of possibility.
• 56:46
  I found on the small island of Nevis the home and birth place
• 56:50
  of a man who changed the world. This individual shares his name
• 56:56
  with a hit hip hop musical and with his face on the US $10.00
• 57:01
  bill. I also found on the small island
• 57:05
  of Nevis a young school teacher. The school teacher proudly says
• 57:10
  a student from his island changed the world.
• 57:14
  This diligent teacher teaches his geography and Spanish
• 57:17
  classes, fully believing any of his students may be the next
• 57:24
  Alexander Hamilton. Anyone, anywhere has the
• 57:30
  possibility to become anything. Everywhere I go now, to more
• 57:37
  than 120 countries and territories, I see human
• 57:41
  potential and possibility. With AI, we should promote human
• 57:48
  agency and in large human capacity.
• 57:52
  We want each individual to flourish as we contribute to the
• 57:56
  greater good and large abundance and sheer prosperity.
• 58:02
  It's why we need faith, moral agency and moral compass, and
• 58:08
  the gift of possibility in an age of artificial intelligence.
• 58:15
  May you discern with the gift of the Holy Ghost what is real and
• 58:21
  unreal, true and untrue, uplifting and not uplifting with
• 58:30
  faith and righteous intent. Please choose wisely to follow
• 58:35
  Jesus Christ. Work with faith, obedience and
• 58:40
  diligence to become all you can become as a child of God.
• 58:46
  Trust and believe in God. May He bless you with every
• 58:51
  opportunity to learn and serve, with every good gift and
• 58:55
  enduring joy. I pray in the name of Jesus
• 58:59
  Christ, Amen.