As Artificial Intelligence continues to develop through its three expected stages – (1) narrow large language models, like ChaptGPT to (2) artificial general intelligence to (3) artificial super intelligence – the development of this new technology will continue to be an escalating disruption of our world; from technology to economics to relationships! British researcher Demis Hassabis has shared that “the AI revolution will be 10x bigger than the Industrial Revolution – and 10x faster.” Others share that AI is the new electricity; there was once a world without electricity, but now just about every part of our day depends upon it.
As this technology continues to develop at an unprecedented speed, it will no doubt continue to impact our world and our lives; but part of the uncertainty of our moment is that no one currently knows what the full implications of AI will be. Christian researcher Carie Nieuwhof has researched the topic for the last few years and written a book for church leaders about three shifts we can make now to help strengthen our communities for the potential impacts that may occur:
- focusing more on community,
- creating capacity in our church communities before we need it, and
- strengthening our integrity in relation to how we may use AI.
We have print and audio copies of Nieuwhof’s book, AI and the Future Church, available for purchase, and Rev. Ron is willing to lead a small group (Sunday School? weekday evening?) discussion of the book if there is interest. If you are interested in learning more, and perhaps helping St. Paul’s UMC to get ahead of the curve in helping our neighbors, please fill out the interest form below. Thank you!