What should we make of AI? Artificial Intelligence (AI) has steadily pushed its way to the front of the “another change I didn’t ask for” line. The talking tech heads promise AI is a silver bullet, but over the past year I haven’t shaken the uneasy feeling we humans might be on the receiving end of the bullet.
So I’ve straddled the fence, unwilling to hand over the keys to my brain, while watching from a safe distance to see if I might need to step out of the shadows and embrace AI as a genuinely helpful tool.
But my recent participation in the Baptist Communicators Association annual Spring Workshop had me leaving Mobile, Alabama, committed to fully join the AI revolution. Here are three reasons, you might consider joining me.
1. Resistance is not an option. Artificial Intelligence was the subject of only a few of the conference’s many breakout sessions or keynotes, but it found its way into the majority of conversations taking place. Whether we were discussing writing, graphic design, photo and video editing, social media, management, or marketing, AI came back up.
According to a 2025 Gallup poll, nearly 50% of workplace leaders use AI in their role. This has more than doubled since 2023. But because the business world is adopting AI at a rapid pace, you are likely using AI casually, without even thinking about it. Search engines like Google now feed you an AI summary before offering you a list of results. And 65% of US adults aged 25-59 use some type of voice assistant (e.g. Siri or Alexa) almost daily. AI, in small ways or large, will eventually work its way into your life.
2. More pop, less slop. In his breakout on AI, Mitchell Bruce, addressed the elephant in the room – “the AI slop” problem. Generative AI has been known to produce mediocre results. Ad copy sounds overly upbeat and generic. Pictures sometimes look fine at first glance but have people with three hands or partial bodies. “Hallucinations” have also been known to appear in results, where AI simply makes up facts and sources to support its conclusions.
However, each new model of generative AI gets better, and hallucinations are increasingly being eliminated. The key to reducing the slop and getting great results is treating AI like a coworker, not a quick fix.
Bruce advises that an AI coworker needs to be onboarded and managed, like a real employee. It needs a job description, an information base that conveys your values, beliefs, personality, and guardrails, and it needs more detailed instructions. Then let it go to work, see what it can do, and help guide it to better work. Much like any new employee. Early results in my own work show great promise.
3. Selling your soul is not required. One of the greatest dangers of AI over-adoption is that it becomes a replacement human – not simply supplanting employees, but becoming a soulless companion to the lonely, a mimicker of art rather than a true creative image bearer of God.
The fears of this are real and will happen with lazy adoption. The answer is thoughtful guardrails and policies for AI usage – for your church or organization, but also for your personal and family life.