In this emerging age of artificial intelligence, it will become increasingly easy to be deceived and steered away from truth, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints warned Tuesday.

Quentin L. Cook counseled Brigham Young University students to “learn to use technology as a servant, not a master,” adding that “the future of the church and our very civilization depend on members and individuals who have deep faith, moral courage and the ability to navigate an increasingly complex world.”

At BYU’s weekly devotional in the Marriott Center, Cook discussed the blessings and challenges that came as the world advanced — during the Provo school’s 150 years of existence — from an agricultural age to an industrial age and then an Information Age, one that he said is rapidly “morphing into an artificial intelligence age.”

He noted that technology has helped the global church of 17.5 million members advance its proselytizing outreach and genealogical research.

“Technology has supported the missionary effort to share the gospel and the gathering of ancestors for temple ordinances,” Cook said. “The growth in both missionary work and temple work as a result of technology has been almost exponential.”

At the same time, he cautioned, “technology can also be a powerful force for deception and destroying morality.”

Cook pointed to early Hollywood films that depicted smoking and drinking as “normal, compelling and sophisticated.”

Only later, the church leader said, did science show the health risks of both and catch up with what church founder Joseph Smith had taught more than a century earlier in the faith’s Word of Wisdom, which preached against tobacco and alcohol use (adherence to this health code eventually became a requirement for faithful members to receive a temple recommend to participate in the church’s holiest rites).

“The doctrine of the restored gospel is just as applicable to the Information Age as it was to the agricultural or industrial age,” Cook said. “It will be even more important in the emerging ‘artificial intelligence age.’”

The apostle told students to ground their beliefs in eternal principles, a task, he added, that could be more difficult with so much information so readily available. He advised them to rely on the wisdom of Latter-day Saint prophets and scriptures in determining truth.

“The Lord’s scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, will be even more important in our day than they were for prior generations,” Cook said. “Because the Book of Mormon is so powerful and so important, there will always be those who disparage or attack [it].”

Cook said church leaders want young Latter-day Saints to succeed in all parts of their lives “but not at the expense of faith and family.”

“You are not here at BYU to merely obtain degrees or credentials,” he said. “...You are also at BYU to become disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and his teachings and to build Zion in a complex world.”

Cook warned Latter-day Saints that technology can lead to using social media primarily for “fun and games,” or, “even worse,” spur an addiction to evil images.

“My challenge for you, precious students, is to choose truth when deception is easy,” he said. “Slow down enough to listen to the Spirit and allow [God] to direct you.”