Religious educators stand at a time unlike any other to be wise stewards over emergent technologies. For instance, virtual reality technology, a type of AI technology, allows anyone in the world to envision what New Testament Jerusalem would have looked like, thus helping to better understand the New Testament.

Abstract: This essay focuses on helping teachers, parents, and students understand and become familiar with artificial intelligence (AI)—specifically, its capabilities and how it will affect our homes and classrooms. In doing so, teachers, parents, students, and children will learn to use certain gospel-approved principles to most successfully use and operate these new technologies to bless the lives of God’s children.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, teaching, spiritual knowledge

The Lord declared, “Whoso is found a faithful, a just, and a wise steward shall enter into the joy of his Lord, and shall inherit eternal life” (Doctrine and Covenants 51:19). Religious educators stand at a time unlike any other moment in history to be wise stewards over emergent technologies such as communication, education, entertainment, healthcare, and manufacturing. Specifically, religious educators and parents have an opportunity to bless every student or child with the necessary education to better understand and properly use such technologies that can bless the lives of “every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” (Mosiah 15:28).

From the beginning of creation, the Lord has introduced his covenant children to technology to improve the human condition: Adam was asked to till the ground (Genesis 2:15), Noah was commanded to construct a boat (Genesis 6:14–16), Moses was instructed to build a tabernacle (Exodus 25:8–9), and Solomon was asked to build a temple (1 Kings 5:5). We even have record of King Hezekiah’s inspiration to create a water conduit beneath the city of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 4:9), as well as Nephi’s use of the Liahona (1 Nephi 16:10), his assessment of the workmanship of the sword of Laban (1 Nephi 4:9), his inspiration to build a ship (1 Nephi 18:1–4), and his construction of metal plates to engrave sacred teachings for future generations (1 Nephi 19:1–2). Modern prophets and apostles have also used technologies like medicine, the printing press, ferries, boats, trains, airplanes, phones, televisions, computers, the Internet, and social media to communicate and bless the lives of God’s children on earth.[1]

Understanding Artificial Intelligence and Its Capabilities Today

Artificial intelligence (AI) “is the latest tool to help the message of Christ spread throughout the earth.”[2] AI is “a field of science and engineering concerned with the computational understanding of what is commonly called intelligent behavior, and with the creation of artifacts that exhibit such behavior.”[3] A subset of AI uses machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL), which are essentially statistical algorithms that can learn from data and achieve specific goals without having to be explicitly programmed.[4] Moreover, “the goal of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a science is to make machines do things that would require intelligence if done by humans.”[5]

A recent example of AI was the rollout of ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) in November 2022. At first, it appeared nobody in the public knew what this was or how it differed from search engines such as Google. Within one year, ChatGPT exploded in popularity; one can hardly go through social media, business meetings, or professional events without hearing about how to maximize ChatGPT’s potential. Specifically, ChatGPT is a Generative AI Large Language Model (LLM) designed to communicate through text-based conversations, using its immense knowledge base to answer almost any question conversationally.[6] At the end of 2024, ChatGPT, owned by OpenAI, released a text-to-video generation tool called Sora.[7] This technology can promptly generate ultrarealistic videos based on text entered in a chatbot. This mind-bending experience creates images, pictures, and films practically indistinguishable from reality. OpenAI has already given access to visual artists and filmmakers, who have released hundreds of sixty-second clips of AI-generated videos. One example is a fictional historic church perched on a mountain cliff next to the ocean; it feels like it was filmed using a drone. Another video shows a man standing inside a cathedral feeding a giant cat sitting on a throne. The potential of text-to-video generation is as wide and deep as one’s imagination. Furthermore, AI is not just great at writing essays, telling jokes, giving advice, correcting false information, creating visual art, and learning from experience. AI is also currently making investments for financial firms, assisting doctors in diagnosing diseases, translating and cloning voices in several different languages, and operating self-driving cars.[8]

These technological breakthroughs have started prompting the mainstream public and experts alike to consider the direction AI will take humanity.[9] Some are predicting that humanity is on the verge of creating Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), “a system equal [to] or exceed[ing] human intelligence.”[10] When hearing about today’s AI breakthroughs, especially AI’s theoretical opportunities, it can be tempting to sensationalize theoretical outcomes concerning new inventions and discoveries within biology and physics. Likewise, some fear that AI could harm humanity.[11] Hearing these predictions can cause worry and a sense of despair. Teachers and students cannot solve all the issues involving AI, but we can help. A few years ago, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland addressed the challenges confronting Generation Z, which encompass technological concerns. Although his remarks weren’t specifically aimed at the impending AI challenges, his sentiments can still be applied. He states,

Seminary and institute teachers are not going to solve all of these problems overnight, but the Brethren do look to you to be well-versed, well-prepared, spiritually in tune, and significantly able to address questions on these [technological] issues when they arise and to deal with them if you have to in real time. With your midweek contact, you are more accessible to students than almost all of the other teachers in the Church are able to be, so be wise in how you do it, but be certain that the Brethren do want and expect you to help—formally and informally, in class and out.[12]

Hence, religious educators and parents can play a significant role in instructing our youth on using these emergent technologies to bless their lives. Educators can begin by consulting and counseling on best practices concerning AI instruction in the classroom with Seminaries and Institutes (S&I) administrators who have stewardship. Working collaboratively with administrators ensures that classroom instruction is aligned with the overall goals of the region and school, minimizing the concerns of both teachers and administrators alike. Given the vast scope of these technologies, I will focus on best practices in the classroom, primarily on AI chatbots, using a gospel framework referred to as “ASK” to best instruct our youth in safely and ethically using this technology.

The ASK Framework: Navigating AI in the Classroom

A pedagogical framework called “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” (ASK) can give teachers and students a way to use AI. Latter-day Saint seminary teachers use this educational tool to help students find answers to their difficult questions. ASK is a tool that reminds us to

1. Act in faith,
2. Examine concepts and questions from an eternal perspective, and
3. Seek understanding through divinely appointed sources.

Chad Webb, the administrator of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, explains, “[ASK] isn’t a hundred answers to a hundred questions. This is more about how you think about information, how you turn to trustworthy sources, and how you frame questions in a gospel premise instead of the world’s premise.”[13]

To illustrate this divinely appointed pattern of reframing questions, recently, my classes have discussed and watched various Sora AI text-to-videos, including a real-life video of a Tesla bot (an autonomous humanoid AI robot) named Optimus.[14] This humanoid bot was deployed in 2024 to work in Tesla factories.[15] There are humanoid bots that have already been released to the public.[16] The video sought to demonstrate the jaw-dropping improvements that Tesla has made with Optimus in such a short time—since 2021. The video opens with Optimus standing stationary, looking straight ahead; unexpectedly, its head begins looking around its environment. Optimus then looks down and inspects its own dexterous hands, indicating self-awareness. What follows is a series of scenes showing Optimus walking, performing exercise squats, manipulating its hands by placing an egg into a steam cooker, and later dancing to music.

My students were stunned at what they had witnessed. They could not believe their eyes. A student said, “This isn’t real!” Another exclaimed, “We’re all doomed!” while yet another wondered aloud, “What are we going to do when there aren’t any more jobs?” As the confusion and fear mounted, another student blurted out, “We’re going to be more depressed!” Collectively, their faces were visibly upset and confused. My heart ached for them; there was no faithful imagination, only a world of doom and gloom. This emergent AI technology was something they never imagined or envisioned. They had no clue how to frame their concerns. Secretly, I was hoping that one of my students would bring up ASK, but to no avail. This indicated that my students needed more experience and training in using ASK for it to become instinctive in their minds and hearts.

These spontaneous and intentional teaching moments should capitalize on teaching ASK. Here are some ways that teachers and parents can start modeling how they can assist their students and children into the habit of turning negative statements or fear-based questions into questions from the perspective of the plan of salvation.

Rising above fear: engaging inspired questions on AI

Example 1: Instead of saying, “We’re all doomed,” teachers and parents can help their student or child reframe their statement into a faith-inspired question like, “How would the Savior want me to use AI to benefit humanity or aid humanity in becoming like him?”

Example 2: Instead of saying, “We are going to be more depressed with AI,” we can help students and children alike come up with a question resembling, “How can the Savior’s teachings on charity influence me to use AI to alleviate depression or sadness?”

Example 3: Instead of dwelling on the worry of, “There won’t be any more jobs,” perhaps the student and child can rephrase that statement and wonder aloud, “How can AI help others at their jobs, or what new jobs could AI create to bless God’s children and build Zion?”

Using Divinely Appointed Sources in the Classroom

Religious educators, parents, students, and children should also seek divinely appointed sources that balance their questions and concerns. For example, Elder Gong provides an important principle about how we should view AI: “We can create appropriate balances in our perceptions, plans, and implementation of generative AI that are realistic both of opportunity and challenge—put another way, that are neither giddy nor alarmist.”[17] Therefore, it is imperative for religious educators and parents to understand the opportunities and risks of AI without being hyperbolic; this requires us to act in faith. We should likewise invite our students and children to do the same. Additionally, we should seek and share with our students and children what our appointed Church leaders are saying about this important topic instead of extreme views and fearmongering expressed in some of the media.

Recently, religious educators and all Church employees have been given divinely appointed guidance from the Lord’s anointed governing AI use. Elder John C. Pingree Jr. said, “The guiding principles are intended to support the responsible use of AI by the Church workforce. These principles may also be helpful for members [, religious educators, students,] and friends of the Church as they navigate a world changing due to AI.”[18] The Church outlined these guiding principles as follows:

Spiritual Connection

• The Church will use artificial intelligence to support and not supplant the connection between God and His children.
• The Church will use artificial intelligence in positive, helpful, and uplifting ways that maintain the honesty, integrity, ethics, values, and standards of the Church.

Transparency

• People interacting with the Church will understand when they are interfacing with artificial intelligence.
• The Church will provide attribution for content created with artificial intelligence when the authenticity, accuracy, or authorship of the content could be misunderstood or misleading.

Privacy and Security

• The Church’s use of artificial intelligence will safeguard sacred and personal information.

Accountability

• The Church will use artificial intelligence in a manner consistent with the policies of the Church and all applicable laws.
• The Church will be measured and deliberate in its use of artificial intelligence by regularly testing and reviewing outputs to help ensure accuracy, truthfulness, and compliance.[19]

As religious teachers and parents, we can model and practice these divinely appointed principles with our students and children that the Church uses within its workforce. Religious educators, students, and children alike have a new opportunity to act in faith by using this technology for good, primarily by deepening and accelerating one’s learning process. This takes faith on behalf of both teachers and students. As teachers, we may be disinclined to use AI in the classroom. A component of acting in faith is seeing in new and imaginative ways. This may cause anxiety for religious educators, knowing that technology, like smartphones, can get in the way of gospel instruction. Therefore, it is reasonable to wonder if using AI in the classroom would make things worse. However, teachers can act in faith by centering some of our lessons on ways to “use artificial intelligence to support and not supplant connection between God and His children,” including using “artificial intelligence in positive, helpful, and uplifting ways that maintain the honesty, integrity, ethics, values, and standards of the Church.”[20]

Using AI Chatbots to Deepen Spiritual Learning

Religious educators and parents should take advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate and maximize the relative accuracy and incredible speed of AI chatbots concerning education in an ethical manner. For example, a teacher can have students come up with 2–3 questions surrounding the day’s gospel lesson and type those gospel questions into whatever chatbot they choose. Imagine a student comes up with, “Where in Matthew does Jesus ask his disciples to raise the dead?” The chatbot response may be: “In Matthew 10:8, Jesus instructs his disciples to ‘raise the dead,’ among other miraculous tasks. This is where Jesus specifically asks his disciples to raise the dead. ‘Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely ye have received, freely give.’”[21]

This can accelerate and deepen one’s personal religious study by focusing time spent searching for a particular scripture. Students and children can ask and generally receive a pretty accurate answer within seconds without having to search on the web or manually look them up in their paper scriptures. We can also center the lesson on balancing this technology, where we use and discuss the benefits of using paper scriptures. Furthermore, in the coming months, teachers and parents can have students or children use these AI chatbots to create a text-to-video underscoring whatever spiritual principle or story they are learning in the scriptures. This will create wonderful opportunities to connect with God and spread his gospel to others. Who wouldn’t like watching a scriptural account such as the creation account in Genesis, Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, Joseph Smith’s First Vision, or Nephi crossing the ocean? AI companies can also allow teachers to record and download their lessons, which will clone their voices in most languages, making their lessons accessible to a wide audience. These tools can prove helpful and exciting for any student and teacher.[22] Moreover, they can help draw people to Christ and his gospel in new ways. Elder Gerrit W. Gong states, “We are going to need not be fearful, but embrace the possibilities in a careful way . . . because the intent, I believe, is for us to take our soul—which is composed of a physical body and a spirit—and bring body and spirit, the physicality with the spiritual, together in new ways that can be a blessing to all of us as children of our Father in Heaven.”[23]

Using AI Chatbots as Research Starting Points

As a PhD student in biblical studies, I often use AI chatbots to help orient myself concerning scripture searches involving ancient history, words, doctrines, or principles. For example, I recently used ChatGPT to ask if the word wrestle in the Old Testament refers to “covenant.” Response: “In the Old Testament and Hebrew language, the word wrestle (or its Hebrew equivalent) is not directly used to refer to covenant in the typical sense of making an agreement or pact. However, there is an incident in the Old Testament where the concept of wrestling is symbolically used as a covenant. . . . The incident occurs in Genesis 32:22–32.”[24] This type of gospel search question on the AI chatbot exemplifies how teachers can guide students in deciding whether there is something worth writing, discussing, and researching. The goal is to get our students and children not to think that an AI chatbot is the end-all-be-all in our learning process. There is inherent risk with AI chatbots that they may not provide an accurate answer; therefore, caution must be discussed concerning the way students rely on chatbots. Teachers and parents can discuss with their students the next step in the learning process. Should students use what was said on the AI chatbot, or should they continue using the tool to point them to other research sources? Students and children can ask the AI chatbot to help guide them to other sources to find more information on their topic of interest.

Teachers and parents can continue to model this by having them look up the actual meaning in the dictionary. For example, the HALOT states that the word wrestle means “to intertwine,” “be intertwined,” and “to embrace.”[25] AI chatbots can potentially lead students or children to other helpful sources on that topic. Walking our students and children through these kinds of steps allows them to use AI chatbots, which enable them to connect deeper with the scriptures and with God by motivating them to research topics that they might otherwise not have pursued. This practice should teach them what it means to act in faith. This is a great research tool that is ready to go today but should be used with caution.

With the aid of their teachers and parents, students and children can come to realize that AI chatbots can serve as potentially reliable tutors to help them with their Church assignments. Often, when a student’s feedback loop is delayed, it can hamper their motivation to follow through on a challenging assignment, whether preparing for a talk or school assignment. Instead, these AI chatbots can leverage students’ learning process and be a new form of one-on-one tutoring. Students and parents can substitute AI chatbots where more extra time and attention might be required than the teacher or parent can extend at that moment. Erik Hoel insightfully writes,

Tutoring, one-on-one instruction, dramatically improves student’s abilities and scores. . . . Benjamin Bloom found that tutored students . . . performed two standard deviations better than students who learn via conventional instructional methods—that is, “the average tutored student was above 98% of the students in the control class.” . . . If we go back in time tutoring had a much broader scope, acting as the main method of early education, at least for the elite. Let us call this past form aristocratic tutoring. . . . Perhaps aristocratic tutoring doesn’t have to be solely for aristocrats. . . . Perhaps in the future one could imagine personalized AI governesses and AI tutors.[26]

I see AI chatbots as a double win for teachers and students alike, especially when teacher-to-student ratios make it difficult to help students with content ambiguity, or students that are disadvantaged.[27] Again, this is something that can be used today as a great learning source.

Drawbacks of Using AI and How to Rely on the Holy Ghost

A current drawback of using AI is that AI chatbots are designed to provide an answer even when they may not know the correct answer. This effect is called “AI hallucination,”[28] and it can create misinformation. In fact, in my previous example of asking where Jesus told his disciples to raise the dead, ChatGPT initially responded, “In the New Testament, there are instances where Jesus performs miracles involving raising the dead, but there isn’t a specific passage where Jesus asks his apostles to raise the dead. Instead, Jesus Himself is depicted as performing these miraculous acts.”[29] My response was, “What about Matthew 10:8?” ChatGPT’s response: “You’re correct, and I appreciate your attention to detail! In Matthew 10:8 (King James Version), Jesus instructs his disciples with these words: ‘Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.’”[30] These examples should be used in teaching students and children that while these technologies can be amazing at providing answers, they do not always get it right. AI chatbots could potentially overshadow God as the ultimate source of all truth and intelligence, hence caution should be exercised.

Therefore, it is incumbent on us to lead our students and children to rely again on divinely appointed sources, especially when they may feel ambiguity surrounding a gospel topic that an AI chatbot might potentially generate. Elder Gong states, “While generative artificial intelligence may be quick to offer information, it can never replace revelation or generate truth from God. If something does not feel right or is inconsistent with what you know is true, seek to discern before believing.”[31]

President Russell M. Nelson cautioned us to be careful with our personal spiritual survival. “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”[32] Students and children must hear this from their teachers and parents. For example, Elder Renlund states,

Technologies that use computer-generated images and videos are rapidly evolving and can portray believable material. A news story in May 2023 used an artificial intelligence–generated photo to “document” an explosion at the Pentagon. This caused the stock markets to dip—until the bogus nature of the photo was made known. And, to ingratiate myself with this audience, I will show you a photo depicting me receiving a diploma from the BYU president himself in 1976. [A photo was shown.] I like this image, but it is an artificial intelligence–generated image. I didn’t graduate from BYU. In the future, we would be wise to avoid relying on observation alone and should seek corroborating evidence from other reliable sources.[33]

The Lord gives us additional insight, saying, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24). These potential risks amplify Elder Ballard’s following statement: “It is important to be still and listen to and follow the Spirit. We all need time to ask ourselves questions or to have a regular personal interview with ourselves. We are often so busy and the world so loud that it is difficult to hear the heavenly words ‘Be still and know that I am God.’”[34] Hence, religious educators will need to fortify their classes so that their students can feel the quiet stillness of God’s voice and, even more, the ability to talk through such issues and overcome false information.

Religious educators can also provide other divinely appointed principles concerning the safe use of AI. The Church recently produced a resource called “Learning to Use Technology Safely” that contains straightforward principles and questions that educators can use with their students. First, technology should have a purpose. Second, the student should have a plan for using the technology. Third, the student should pause and take a break periodically.[35] Religious educators can teach students to get into the habit of asking themselves questions such as, “Why am I using the device right now? Do I feel good about what I am doing? How long will I spend on this device?”[36] Moreover, here are some simple rules to teach and reteach: “I give myself a daily limit for screen time. . . . I have device-free areas at home, like my bedroom and my bathroom [and for some, even religious classrooms]. . . . I use filters to block inappropriate or unsafe applications and content.”[37] Lastly, it is important to reinforce personal connection amidst these technologies. “Connect with someone: I can talk to a friend or family member how I’m feeling. Sometimes I need to connect with someone face-to-face, not through a screen.”[38]

If we as teachers and parents can manage to do this, then we can help our students and children avoid a lot of pain and sorrow, including identity issues that appear to be tied to technological use.[39] Elder Bednar warns us, “The message I want to share with you today has over time distilled upon my ‘soul as the dews from heaven’ (Doctrine and Covenants 121:45). I raise an apostolic voice of warning about the potentially stifling, suffocating, suppressing, and constraining impact of some kinds of cyberspace interactions and experiences upon our souls.”[40] The quicker we move on these issues as teachers and parents, the more time our students have to practice these activities in class or at home, and the better off they will be using today’s AI technologies.

Ethical Use and Transparency in AI-Generated Content

It will be natural for students to ask ethical questions about using AI generative tools. For example, students or children might ask, Can I have an AI chatbot write my whole Church talk or lesson? This will provide valuable opportunities for teachers and parents to model an appropriate ethical response. The teacher can ask the class to follow what is being typed into the AI chatbot on the screen projector in the class. The teacher writes, “Provide a few principles about Jacob 5 that can be used in a Sunday school lesson.” Response: “The allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5 teaches principles of divine care and pruning, embracing labor, patience, and collaboration in God’s work.”[41] The teacher or parent can ask, “Did the AI chatbot write my lesson? No. Instead, I used it as a tool to help me generate new ideas I might not have considered before.”

Moreover, teachers or parents can also model for their students or children how to cite chatbots appropriately by attaching a footnote with the appropriate source, for example, “ChatGPT, ‘The allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5,’ conversation with ChatGPT, accessed April 23, 2024.” This is helpful for students; teaching them to be honest and ethical is important because the temptation lies in the power of these tools, which may blur the lines of cheating and disparage integrity. Discussing with our students and children how to cite content from AI chatbots lessens the stigmatization of using AI chatbots. However, it is best to use it primarily as a research tool to lead to more credible sources. Additionally, having these lessons reduces the fear and worry of whether using AI chatbots as a legitimate source is socially acceptable. Some AI chatbots come with built-in web search features, which can be especially helpful for higher-level students looking for niche information that can be challenging to find.[42]

Nevertheless, teachers should caution their students to first check with the appropriate authority, like a schoolteacher or professor, about whether they can use AI chatbots as a source. Finally, teachers can begin now by thinking about centering some time on lessons that discuss the importance of acting in faith by not inappropriately using text-to-image generation, which may potentially create pornographic content that would deaden one’s connections with God.[43] Teachers can create potential scenarios involving text-to-video generation. The class can be asked to respond how they would help a student act in faith, examine concepts or questions from an eternal perspective, and seek divinely appointed sources that could help him or her successfully navigate this technology appropriately. All these ASK activities centered on AI are designed to connect with God, be transparent, and be accountable.

Technology in the Scriptures

Again, in the coming months and years, students will have more questions involving AI emergent technologies. Teachers and parents can center lessons on technology use in the scriptures. Some may wonder if technology is approved by God. For example, teachers can ask their students or children: “Take a moment and list examples from the scriptures where the Savior allowed the use of technology to benefit God’s children.”

A student raises their hand and volunteers to read 1 Nephi 17:8. “And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.”

Another student replies with 1 Nephi 17:9–11, “And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me? And it came to pass that the Lord told me whither I should go to find ore, that I might make tools. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make a bellows wherewith to blow the fire, of the skins of beasts; and after I had made a bellows, that I might have wherewith to blow the fire, I did smite two stones together that I might make fire.” Another student offers 1 Nephi 16:10: “And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.”

The teacher then asks the whole class to share with their neighbor what they are learning about the Savior concerning the use of technology. After some insightful conversations about how the Lord commands his children to use science and technology to participate in his work, the teacher asks a reflective question followed by an application question for the students to write in their journals. The teacher invites, “Take a few minutes and write about the following questions: Do you think the Lord trusts you enough to use today’s AI technologies based on what you read? Secondly, how might the Lord like you to use your unique gifts and talents to assist in using AI?”

After a few minutes of writing, the teacher asks, “Would anyone like to share anything you wrote?” One cautious student raises their hand and tenderly says, “I think we can do all things in Christ,” and then pauses in hesitation. The teacher replies, “Please keep talking!” The student opens up and states, “Truthfully, I don’t like where AI is going and don’t know if I can handle it appropriately. However, my dad read a quote to me the other week at dinner, and it filled me with joy.”

The teacher gently interrupts and asks, “Could you read that quote for us?” The student says, “Yes, I have it on my phone. It comes from Elder Gong. ‘No generation is better prepared than yours to contribute and make a difference in bringing together God’s family—the family of all humanity. You are digital natives. Your world has always been connected by the Internet, smartphones, and social media. Some of you are adept at machine learning; thank you for helping. . . . That can help unite families for eternity.’”[44]

The student continues, “When I heard those inspired words, I felt in my heart that God’s children can use today’s technologies wisely; I know I have the ability to use AI technologies that are compassionate and caring. Who knows, with the power and help of the Savior, these creations will heal others with cancer!”

The teacher compassionately asks, “What do you think heaven is teaching you?” The student humbly replies, “I think perhaps using AI compassionately is what Heavenly Father wants me to do instead of being upset or fearful of AI.”

Warmth and silence fill the classroom. The teacher’s eyes brim with tears reverently as they enthusiastically exclaim to the student, “You are so awesome! I believe every word you just said to the class! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” The teacher turns to the class and asks them to share what they will apply in their lives based on what they have been hearing and feeling.

Afterward, the teacher asks, “Do you all feel something different?” The students answer with a resounding yes. The teacher responds, “That very well could be the Holy Ghost, and I testify that what Elder Gong said is true for all of you in your own unique ways. I know that as you act in faith, see things from an eternal perspective, and listen to divinely appointed sources, you do not have to fear the future, especially when it involves AI. Remember what Jesus said in John 14:12 to his disciples on the night of the Last Supper? ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.’”

The teacher pauses before tenderly resuming with a hopeful tone, “So, my dear friends, in faith, you can use and ultimately train AI in a way where it does not have to be a fire-breathing dragon destroying everything in its way. Instead, you can use it to uplift the hands that hang down. I get the feeling that you all will learn to use and train these AI technologies to help others attain exaltation.” The teacher then closes the lesson.

This illustration shows teachers and students having the capability to create an AI text-to-video experience in the seminary classroom while displaying any event in our Restoration texts.

Conclusion

What an incredible time to be alive as teachers, parents, students, and children, to exercise our faith in Christ’s gospel. To summarize, there are a host of amazing AI technologies that are being used today, like AI chatbots, that can be a great benefit for both teachers and students alike in and out of the classroom. They can deepen one’s connection with God and speed up the learning process by finding the answer to questions. Admittedly, AI tools have their downfalls, which is why the following action items are key for teachers and parents to follow:

• Understand AI and its capabilities.
• Define and model the ASK framework in navigating AI questions in the classroom (to act in faith, examine concepts and questions from an eternal perspective, and seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources).
• Focus lessons on using AI chatbots to deepen spiritual learning, using AI chatbots as research starting points.
• Discuss the drawbacks of using AI and how to rely on the Holy Ghost.
• Focus lessons on ethical use and transparency in AI-generated content and lessons on technology from the scriptures.

Following these action items will teach our students to use AI in a way that focuses on maintaining a spiritual connection with God and maintains transparency and accountability. Indeed, religious educators have great responsibility for aiding God’s children to fulfill their divine potential in becoming exalted sons and daughters of God. If we can teach our students and children how to use today’s emergent technologies in wisdom, and with guidance from our inspired leaders, even Jesus Christ, our influence as religious educators will go a long way in facilitating the work of our Heavenly Father, “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). Our students and children just need a little direction from us. I see no reason God’s children cannot experience profound abundance in the remaining three-quarters of the twenty-first century and beyond. With imaginative faith, AI can help enhance one’s connection with God. As religious educators and parents, let us seek to be wise stewards in helping the Lord guide our youth safely to greener pastures than any of us would have dreamt, where the Lord says, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:23).

Notes

[1] Ryan Jensen, “Rely on the Spirit When Using AI, Elder Gong Encourages,” Church News, March 13, 2024.

[2] “Guiding Principles for the Church of Jesus Christ’s Use of Artificial Intelligence,” March 13, 2024, https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[3] Stuart Charles Shapiro, Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (Wiley, 1992).

[4] Ajitha Kumari Vijayappan Nair Biju, Ann Susan Thomas, and J. Thasneem, “Examining the Research Taxonomy of Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning and Machine Learning in the Financial Sphere—a Bibliometric Analysis,” Springer Nature, May 2, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-023-01673-0. “Machine learning (ML) techniques have empowered machines to act by analogy with humans. . . . ML refers to a broad discipline that focuses on the automated usage of data and algorithms without being explicitly programmed. . . . The applications of ML and DL have been used to formulate trend and pattern predictive tasks, image processing, audio-visual recognition, and even complex classification and extraction functions. Soon these techniques were assimilated into diversified fields such as physical and life sciences, medicine, energy economics, finance, and operations management.”

[5] Michael Negnevitsky, Artificial Intelligence: A Guide to Intelligent Systems (Addison Wesley, 2011).

[6] Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah et al., “Generative AI and ChatGPT: Applications, Challenges, and AI-Human Collaboration,” Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research 25, no. 3 (2023): 277–304, https://doi.org/10.1080/15228053.2023.2233814. “GPT refers to Large Language Models (LLMs) that use deep learning techniques for extensive training with tremendous amounts of data. ChatGPT is specifically designed and fine-tuned for conversational usage to produce human-like responses by drawing on its wealth of information and knowledge. The capabilities of ChatGPT are enabled by generative AI, which refers to a type of AI that can generate human-like text and creative content (e.g., music and images) as well as consolidate data from different sources for analysis. ChatGPT passed the Turing test by fooling people into believing that its responses were from humans rather than machines/AI. The advent of this state-of-the-art AI is expected to revolutionize society as well as the way we live, work, learn, and communicate.”

[7] Ryan Morrison, “OpenAI Will Release Sora to the Public This Year—What You Need to Know,” Tom’s Guide, last updated March 14, 2024, https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/chatgpt/openai-will-release-sora-this-year-and-people-cant-tell-its-ai-creations-from-real-video.

[8] Laurence Santy, “14 Things AI Can—and Can’t Do (So Far),” Invoca Blog, March 5, 2024, https://www.invoca.com/blog/6-things-ai-cant-do-yet.

[9] Katja Grace, Harlan Stewart, Julia Fabienne Sandkühler, Stephen Thomas, Ben Weinstein-Raun, and Jan Brauner, “Thousands of AI Authors on the Future of AI,” Cornell University, arXiv, last revised April 30, 2024, https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.02843.

[10] Tom Everitt, Gary Lea, Marcus Hutter, “AGI Safety Literature Review,” arXiv, May 22, 2018, https://arxiv.org/pdf/1805.01109.pdf. “Intelligence measures an agent’s ability to achieve goals in a wide range of environments.” Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is an AI system that equals or exceeds human intelligence in a wide variety of cognitive tasks. This is in contrast to today’s AI systems that solve only narrow sets of tasks. In other words, AGI will employ its intelligence to achieve its goals rather than conclude that its goals are pointless. Further, if we want an AGI to pursue goals that we approve of, we better make sure that we design the AGI to pursue such goals: Beneficial goals will not emerge automatically as the system gets smarter.”

[11] Eliezer Yudkowsky, “The Only Way to Deal with the Threat from AI? Shut It Down,” Time, March 29, 2023.

[12] Jeffrey R. Holland, “Angels and Astonishment,” June 1, 2019, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[13] Chad H. Webb, “That They May Know How to Come unto Him and Be Saved,” BYU–Hawaii devotional, March 22, 2016, https://speeches.byuh.edu.

[14] Yihao Su, “Artificial Intelligence: The Significance of Tesla Bot,” Highlights in Science, Engineering and Technology CMLAI 2023 (2023): 1352. “It will be using the neural system of the optical neural network on the bot to auto-manage the desired tasks. For instance, Tesla’s autonomous driving solution is based on the perception network, which outputs a three-dimensional space established from the real world and uses a hybrid planning system that combines traditional planning methods and neural algorithms to plan the behavior and trajectory of the car. It is expected that the algorithm will be used in humanoid robots, which will advance the autonomy of humanoid robots to make more accurate decisions. With large-scale original data sets and sufficient computing power, Tesla’s core algorithms for autonomous driving perception and regulation can be fully utilized by ‘Optimus.’”

[15] Akash Sriram, “Tesla Could Start Selling Optimus Robots by the End of Next Year, Musk Says,” Reuters, April 23, 2024.

[16] Jacob Biba, “Top 22 Humanoid Robots in Use Right Now,” April 17, 2024, https://builtin.com/robotics/humanoid-robots.

[17] “Guiding Principles for the Church.”

[18] “Guiding Principles for the Church.”

[19] “Guiding Principles for the Church.”

[20] “Guiding Principles for the Church.”

[21] “The allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5,” ChatGPT, April 23, 2024.

[22] Jason Kottke, “AI-Assisted Language Translation of Speaking, Including Mouth Movements,” September 15, 2023, https://kottke.org.

[23] Quoted in Ryan Jensen, “Rely on the Spirit When Using AI, Elder Gong Encourages,” Deseret News, March 13, 2024.

[24] “In the Old Testament and Hebrew language, the word ‘wrestle,’” ChatGPT, April 23, 2024.

[25] Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (E. J. Brill, 1994–2000), 9.

[26] Erik Hoel, “Why We Stopped Making Einsteins: Aristocratic Tutoring I: Explaining the Decline of Genius,” March 16, 2022, www.theintrinsicperspective.com.

[27] Sambhav Gupta and Yu Chen, “Supporting Inclusive Learning Using Chatbots? A Chatbot-Led Interview Study,” Journal of Information Systems Education 33, no. 1 (2022): 98–108, https://jise.org/Volume33/n1/JISE2022v33n1pp98-108.pdf. “Through a chatbot-led user study with 215 undergraduate students, we found chatbots provide the opportunity to support students who are disadvantaged, with diverse life environments, and with varied learning styles. This could be achieved through an accessible, interactive, and confidential way.”

[28] Sai Anirudh Athaluri et al., “Exploring the Boundaries of Reality: Investigating the Phenomenon of Artificial Intelligence Hallucination in Scientific Writing Through ChatGPT References,” Cureus, April 11, 2023, https://assets.cureus.com/uploads/original_article/pdf/148687/20230511-14808-1wokz88.pdf. “AI hallucination is a phenomenon where AI generates a convincing but completely made-up answer. OpenAI’s notes acknowledge that the answers generated by ChatGPT may sound plausible but be nonsensical or incorrect.”

[29] “You’re correct, and I appreciate your attention to detail!,” ChatGPT, April 23, 2024.

[30] “You’re correct,” ChatGPT.

[31] “Guiding Principles for the Church.”

[32] Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” general conference talk, April 2018, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[33] Dale G. Renlund, “Observation, Reason, Faith, and Revelation,” August 22, 2023, https://speeches.byu.edu.

[34] R. Scott Lloyd, “Make Technology Your Servant, Not Your Master, Elder Ballard Says,” Church News, May 5, 2014.

[35] “Taking Charge of Technology: ‘Learning to Use Technology Safely,’” January 1, 2024, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[36] “Taking Charge of Technology.”

[37] “Taking Charge of Technology.”

[38] “Taking Charge of Technology.”

[39] Jean M. Twenge et al., “Specification Curve Analysis Shows That Social Media Use Is Linked to Poor Mental Health, Especially among Girls,” Acta Psychologica 224 (April 2022): 103512, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103. “In particular: among girls, there is a consistent and substantial association between mental health and social media use (median betas from −0.11 to −0.24). These associations were stronger than links between mental health and binge drinking, sexual assault, obesity, and hard drug use, suggesting that these associations may have substantial practical significance as many countries are experiencing rising rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide among teenagers and young adults.”

[40] Twenge et al, “Social Media Use.”

[41] “The allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5,” ChatGPT, April 23, 2024.

[42] Ertugrul Portakal, “4 AI Chatbots With Web Browsing Features,” Text Cortex, October 24, 2023, accessed at https://textcortex.com/post/ai-chatbots-with-web-browsing.

[43] Morrison, “OpenAI Will Release Sora.”

[44] Gerrit W. Gong, “Our Own Best Story,” May 27, 2023, https://speeches.byu.edu.