Deena Prichep, 90.5 WESA; Clergy grapple with the ethics of using AI to write sermons
"AILSA CHANG, HOST:
On any given Sunday, churchgoers settle into pews and listen to a sermon. A member of the clergy uses text from the Bible and figures out what it has to say about our lives today, right? But how would you feel if you found out that sermon was written by artificial intelligence? Deena Prichep reports.
DEENA PRICHEP, BYLINE: Writing and delivering sermons, homiletics if you're in the biz, is not an easy job.
NAOMI SEASE CARRIKER: It's like a mini research paper. You have to prepare every week, and some weeks, life is just a lot.
PRICHEP: Naomi Sease Carriker is pastor of Messiah of the Mountains Lutheran Church in North Carolina and recently had one of those weeks, so she popped open ChatGPT.
CARRIKER: And boom, literally within not even 30 seconds, I had a 900-word sermon. And I read through it, and I was like, oh, my God, this is really good.
PRICHEP: But she also thought...
CARRIKER: This feels wrong.
PRICHEP: It's an ethical question clergy across the country are wrestling with. When it comes to something like homework, the goal is students learning. So using AI can get in the way of that. But the goal of a sermon is basically to tell a story that can break open the hearts of people to a holy message. So does it matter where that comes from? Some denominations have issued general guidelines urging thought and caution, but they don't really mention specifics, given that the technology is changing so quickly. So clergy are left to figure it out themselves. Naomi Sease Carriker decided not to preach that AI sermon, but she does use the tech to get her draft started or wrap up what she's written with a nice conclusion, and that feels OK."
