We can use A.I. for good, LDS Church says, conceding that some enemies won’t

Far from spelling humanity’s doom, artificial intelligence can, when guided by the right principles, help bring more of God’s children to salvation, apostle Gerrit W. Gong recently told employees for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“Overall, I am optimistic about our ability to use these A.I. technologies wisely and effectively,” Gong said in a news release, “and to protect church members and friends from the deceitful spread of falsehoods or untruth.”

The apostle and co-presenter John Pingree, a general authority Seventy and head of the church’s correlation department, outlined four “guiding principles” to steer responsible use of A.I.: spiritual connection; transparency; privacy and security; and accountability.

“The guiding principles are intended,” Pingree said, “to support the responsible use of A.I. by the church workforce.”

He didn’t stop there.

“These principles may also be helpful for members and friends of the church,” he suggested, “as they navigate a world changing due to A.I.”

Practically speaking, the presentation emphasized that users should always know when they’re interacting with A.I.-generated content.

Additionally, Latter-day Saint leaders committed the church to providing attribution for A.I.-generated content when its “authenticity, accuracy or authorship” could “be misunderstood or misleading,” and to “safeguard sacred and personal information.”

Among the possible A.I. applications the presentation named were accelerating and automating family history work and translation.

“Generative A.I.,” the release added, “may also offer natural language queries and prompts to help Latter-day Saints find current, accurate information from designated, grounded and approved church sources.”

Dangers lurk

Gong was frank with the audience: Some people, he observed, will use A.I. to harmful ends. As technology improves, convincing deepfakes, or artificial images and videos in which someone’s appearance has been digitally altered, are likely to proliferate, along with other forms of manipulated content using someone’s name, image and likeness. He noted that high-profile church leaders are especially vulnerable, given the amount of imagery, audio and video of them that exists in the public domain.

To counteract these dangers, Gong urged reliance on spiritual discernment and trusted sources, stating: “The Holy Ghost only attests to truth.”

Gavin Feller, a historian who has written about the history of the church and media, applauded the presentation and accompanying news release.

In the past, how leaders approached and talked about new technology — from radio to TV to social media — depended on individuals, and their often-evolving personal views. Articulating and promoting an official A.I. policy, Feller said, were “politically and organizationally savvy” moves.

He worried, however, that the church could be making promises that are difficult, if not impossible, to keep.

Take privacy, for instance. “I don’t see the church developing its own A.I. technology,” Feller said, meaning it will be reliant on tools from private companies like Microsoft.

“Once you release data to a corporation,” he said, “you don’t have control over it anymore.”

Counting the costs

If Feller comes off as cynical, it’s because history has taught him to look for the catch.

“You can talk all day long about how it’s a tool to make things more efficient, more effective,” he said, “but there’s always the cost.”

Take television. In the early days, producing TV was exorbitant and stations depended on advertising money from tobacco and alcohol companies to stay afloat.

The teetotaling Latter-day Saint faith “tried to resist,” Feller said, but ultimately gave in to economic pressures. In the 1950s, it ran ads for cigarettes and spirits on church-owned KSL.

“The church,” he said, “had to give in and say, ‘If we’re going to stay competitive and influence people, we have to compromise.’”

He noted that the presentation and accompanying news release on A.I. were clearly created with an eye toward an external audience.

“I would love to see,” he said, “if the church has its own internal policies for employees around A.I.”

While the presentation and its summary offered glimpses (the presenters discouraged employees from using artificial intelligence to “oversaturate” church members with content), Feller stressed that this was one instance when the proverbial devil — or angel — could be found only in the details.