Christian Celebrity Will Now Be AI-fueled, part 2
You think Christian celebrity is weird now? Just wait.
Part 1 of this post recounts my discovery of New Calvinism in 2010 and the way changing technology empowered Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church.
This part focuses on eye-opening and unethical ways a ministry could use AI.
AI Use At Work Opened My Eyes To Troubling Possibilities
Until recently, I worked as a curriculum writer for an education company. After ChatGPT-4 made its splash in early 2023, my team was instructed to go all-in. Our unholy grail was faster and faster production. As a result, I used AI daily in my work for over a year. While we didn’t attempt anything like what I’ll describe, my experience with this technology made it clear that unethical pathways were readily available. As a Christian, this left me particularly concerned about how churches might be affected.
Where could those trails lead, and why might a ministry be tempted to take them? I’ll offer a couple of hypothetical pictures. These aren’t predictions, but general possibilities meant to get you thinking. And to put you on alert.
One Nefarious Possibility: The Content Heist
A lot of Christians have a go-to resource for biblical questions. Think Desiring God or GotQuestions.org. But what if a vast, new-to-you digital content hub popped up seemingly overnight? Surely that would mean it had been around for a while, and that it just happened to fly under your radar, right? Not necessarily anymore.
It’s now possible to ransack a respected internet resource and input countless pages of its blogs and articles into an LLM like ChatGPT. You could instruct the platform to produce a content collection that mirrored the original—but did so in a distinct voice. Using a Christian resource, you could swipe theology and “bake” it into new, AI-generated pieces of writing.
This is a simplification of what a large-scale larceny would involve. But given enough time and curiosity, anyone with basic computer skills could do it. A sophisticated team could do it in a matter of hours if quality wasn’t a priority. Portals that detect AI-generated writing also abound. And for now the output has a generic quality that can sometimes give its origins away. So, you’d risk getting called out. But courts are still working through whether this would even amount to copyright violation.
Want to push the envelope further? You could tell the LLM to produce hours worth of video scripts. Then with another AI you could generate video of yourself (or your pastor friend) holding forth on every topic imaginable. You wouldn’t actually need to record hours of video. Existing recordings of the presenter could teach the software everything it would need to know about the subject’s speaking style and mannerisms. As of this writing, the videos you could generate would probably look a bit off, but would be entirely watchable.
Pining for a global audience? Why not use AI to translate the videos (that you didn’t record) into dozens of languages. Once again, the results won’t be flawless—but they will be freaky. The subject’s mouth will move as if that person actually spoke each language you select.
Would a ministry team likely go that far? Should we expect a platform channeling Ligonier Ministries’ content into eighty-five languages to launch any day now? I doubt it. But subtler forms of what I just described are already commonplace. You’ve likely read “AI-laundered” content without knowing it. And to be wise as serpents in this brave new world, it’s helpful to understand the sheer strangeness that is already possible.
Weirder Yet: Your Best Friend, the Celebrity Pastor
Of course, what AI makes possible today is tame compared to what’s coming. And tech gurus are already bullish about “AI companions”. Hollywood explored this possibility in 2013 with the movie Her. The film tells the story of a man who develops a romantic relationship with an AI voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
Even with an app that ruled out romantic interaction, most pastors would still recoil at the idea of transforming their likeness into an AI. But most is not all. And as AI companions become more realistic and versatile, some entrepreneurial ministries will start experimenting along these lines.
As I shared in the first part of this post, I stumbled into the New Calvinist heyday in 2010. Early on, I met young men who would spend hours watching their favorite pastors' YouTube sermons. Take this phenomenon a step further. Imagine being able to get on a Zoom call with a well-known preacher (or so it would appear) and have a freewheeling conversation about the sermon you’d just watched. Or to talk about any other topic the AI was allowed to discuss. Such an avatar of a real pastor could talk to an unlimited number of people at the same time.
Weird, for sure. Disturbing? I’d say yes. But the tech that could produce a realistic audio conversation already exists, with video not far off. And as AI’s conversational abilities become more nuanced and engaging, the potential will entice some.
Times Change, but Truth Doesn’t
Let’s leave dystopian discipleship aside for a moment. Because even in the face of dizzying developments, much will stay unchanged for Christians. Laying down your pride to follow Jesus hasn’t changed much in two thousand years. In every age, his death on the cross remains central. It makes forgiveness of sin possible for all who believe. Jesus’ promise to raise his people up from death to everlasting life continues. The strongest and strangest winds of technological change won’t alter that.
In a time like this, low and no-tech acts of faith may even become more powerful. An AI companion might offer a band-aid to someone’s loneliness. But only time spent face-to-face with real people will develop deep friendships and much-needed trust. At first, turning the pages of a physical Bible might feel uncomfortable to someone whose reading habits consist of social media or banter with an AI. Yet, sticking with the habit, that same person could encounter a newfound joy. An undistracted quiet in the presence of God is a wonderful counterpoint to digital overload.
AI Will Bring Good Things Too
I’m inclined to think the believers who can harness AI most effectively will also be those well-grounded in timeless, non-digital habits of faith. Christians have re-purposed every imaginable technology for good, and our era will be no exception.
Consider a less personality-driven variation on the AI I described earlier. A group of pastors trains an app to discuss New Testament Greek. A user can converse with the AI naturally as relevant visuals display on a screen. This could unlock a level of biblical understanding that was previously beyond the reach of the average Christian.
AI also makes it possible to transform Scripture into melodic songs. It enables this at a speed and with a variety of expression never before possible. I’ve written about this and shared some of my own examples. With many more people creating songs like these, a life immersed in the Word becomes accessible in a new way.
Deuteronomy chapter 6 envisions God’s people immersed in God’s Word throughout daily life. But so many of us struggle to even crack a Bible once a day. As we carry on with our work, family life, and mundane tasks, hours can go by where we don’t even consider God. Now, imagine a world where God’s Word sung with world-class quality is widely available in your favorite styles. A small number of real artists are working on this right now. And AI offers the potential to expand the effort and draw much more attention to it.
Overcoming the Misuse of Technology
Yes, self-serving Christians will use AI for destructive ends. In this world, we will see trouble. But we can take heart because our Lord and Savior has overcome this world (John 16:33). And as we overcome this sinful age together, may we direct the vast powers of technology toward ends that are true, honorable, and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8).