Spiritual AI

My husband, Ben, and I had a bit of fun with ChatGPT over the holidays. We called a few people and sang them a very personalized song, whether it be their birthday or just because. The songs were full of goofiness, fun lyrics, great rhyming, and surprisingly personal. The recipients of our lovely songs didn’t know how we had quickly become songwriters!

ChatGPT is a computer program developed by Open AI (an artificial intelligence laboratory) that stimulates human conversation and provides helpful and informative responses. It basically does the thinking, or songwriting, in our case.

While many love what ChatGPT provides, there are some negative effects. Ben now has the challenge of making the most of ChatGPT in the university classroom, while at the same time providing exams where students can’t get their answers from ChatGPT.  He wants the students to work in cooperation with ChatGPT. That way, they can actually produce more, because they have it as their helper.

For example, my husband asked ChatGPT about a personal struggle that I’m having. Frankly, it had great answers. They were somewhat specialized textbook answers to the specific wording of the question. But it was good advice! This is not surprising because there are a lot of people and documents on the internet that can and have provided good advice. But, Ben said there was more stuff that only a person who really knows me could say to encourage me. You see, Ben knows me, he’s my husband. And God knows us too, as unique individuals. God can answer things really specialized for you and me.

Take a look at Psalm 139:13-18 with a focus on how very much God knows you and me intimately: “For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand-when I awake, I am still with you.”

God knows you and me inside and out. He cares about our thoughts, our circumstances, our highs, our lows, our relationships, our worries, and our joys. He longs for a personal intimate relationship with us. He waits to be wanted. He is real. He is God.

One more thought about ChatGPT. My husband asked, "What do you know about me, Ben Abbott, in San Antonio?" It said, “I don’t know anything about you beyond the name you have provided. My purpose is to provide general information and answer questions to the best of my ability based on the knowledge fed into me through my training.”

For me, I prefer someone who fully knows me.

Let’s wrap up with a few more verses from Psalm 139:1-4 “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.”

This is how I want to be known, fully.

Take a listen:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xckDgX8xNfg

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.