Should I Use AI in Worship Ministry?

"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."—HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)

The computer/antagonist in Stanley Kubrick's epic space thriller may come to mind when you think about artificial intelligence. Or, on the other hand, you might think of Tony Stark/Ironman's AI companion J.A.R.V.I.S. as another possibility of what "AI" can become.

Whether you view AI in a positive or negative sense, I think everyone has asked the question: "How far should we take this?"

There are all kinds of ethics considerations to this, from environmental impact to alarming cases of misinformation and harm resulting from prompt queries, not to increased dependence on a still little-known field. And yet, if you're not embracing AI...

...you'll be left behind. (At least, that's what some people are saying.)

So as music ministers, how should we consider utilizing a technology that is becoming more and more prevalent in our everyday lives?

What AI Is... and What It Isn't

It's important to clarify what AI actually is and potentially correct some misconceptions.

Artificial intelligence is a technology that uses data sets to perform tasks that resemble human cognitive function, like problem solving, researching answers, and delivering results in a way that feels more "human."

What is not: Even though AI performs like a human, it is not sentient. It is not capable of experiencing emotion, and it is not self-aware. It can create, replicate, and approximate results that evoke some kind of emotion in us, but this is all based on information that it gathers, or with which it is trained.

Concerns

The biggest concerns that people have about AI are summed up in the following:

• Bias: AI doesn't necessarily have wide-spread access to all information; it's trained on specific data. So there's always a chance for bias to show through its results, whichever platform you use.

• Human rights, jobs, and the environment: With the advent new technology, there will always be someone left holding the short end of the stick, whether in losing their job to AI overhaul, the data centers needed to power the technology that impacts the natural world and people's daily lives... there's always a trade-off, and it's almost never negligible.

• Regulation challenges: As this technology continues to emerge, new regulations remain a challenge to implement as we seek to guide AI development.

From a Christian creative standpoint, our chief concerns come down to the following:

• Does AI-generated work undermine my originality?

• Does God work through something that, on the surface, is void of direct human input?

In case of both questions, I don't think there's a clear, black-and-white answer.

When it comes to originality, I would say that generating an entire song from AI doesn't make you a composer, so you shouldn't pass off its work as your own. But let's say you're having trouble with a particular lyrics in a song you've drafted; would asking AI to offer tweaks and alternatives undermine your work altogether? I would tend to say, "No," but others might feel differently.

Concerning the initial absence of human involvement, or let's call it "workmanship": It's still hotly contested, but this centers around the misconceptions of AI itself. With human workmanship comes discernment, especially from the Holy Spirit, which AI cannot comprehend or implement. BUT it can generate lyrics, poetry, and prayer that would not seem out of place in a worship service or private devotion. In fact, people could be pointed to God if those words are congruent with Scripture and established theological frameworks.

My Take

Considering those questions above, here's where I stand on using AI in worship ministry.

I'm OK with using AI to sketch out ideas, create demos, or to fast-track trigger samples to augment someone's recorded part. I'm also OK with using it as a search engine to help one's own learning process. In fact, AI is a regular part of my workflow in summarizing longer blog posts and generating multi-media drafts that I further edit after they've been initially generated.

I'm not OK with using AI as total human replacement, especially with a set-and-forget method for generating prayers, other written liturgies, or songs. For me, the discernment given to us through the Holy Spirit is precious, and to blindly accept an AI-generated statement is to, in a way, quench the Spirit.

New Developments

Recently, my friends and I have been using a new platform called Suno to generate near-radio-ready demos of our original songs. It's made a huge difference in how we conceptualize what our music sounds like as if it were produced professionally, and it gives us a direction to follow in further recording or live performances.

It's amazing, really. Suno will generate a fully produced song, complete with full band and orchestration, hyper-realistic vocals, and a myriad of style combinations where your imagination in writing prompts is the only limit.

It's not perfect though. I'm always sure to include my written lyrics, and I always set parameters to almost never deviate from my original melody and chords. Still, there'll be cases where a word, melody, or chord is changed, but we've come a long way from the days of using Microsoft Sam's text-to-speech app on our parents' Windows Vista PC.

At this point, I'm having a lot of fun generating these demos, but I'm always sure to cover my bases when it comes to the essentials of the songs being mine: the lyrics, melody, and basic harmonic framework. If Suno generates another chord progression or comes up with a cool fill, I will sometimes consider using those adjustments in the final product.

From a ministry standpoint, this works well in giving my team more concrete material to reference when we perform original songs and need to be efficient in creating parts. I've also considered how we can use demos like this in a private collection of songs exclusively available on our church app for our congregation to enjoy in preparation for corporate worship. (I'm still working on how to balance this with fully utilizing the gifts of our team on church-made recordings.)

In any case, I'm hopeful for the future when it comes to utilizing AI technology in ministry. The right tools have the potential to make a huge difference in how we manage and create ministry materials, all to serve our churches with excellence and efficiency. With the right guidance, I'm looking forward to how we can embrace this tech the right way to see God's calling and commission fulfilled in our churches, communities, and the world.

Be blessed 👊✌️