Tens of thousands of Christians in South Korea have added technology supported by artificial intelligence (AI) to their spiritual diet, reports the Financial Times.
Many young Protestants in particular have started using AI-supported Christian apps, which has freed up pastors’ diaries to spend more time focusing on caring for members of their churches on a pastoral level.
Awake Corp, which developed AskJesus, the ChatGPT-based Bible chatbot service, has gained about 50,000 users since launching in March. Its AI-backed service answers spiritual questions about matters such as Bible verses, interpretations, and prayers. The company eventually changed the service’s name from AskJesus to Meadow because some users viewed its answers as the actual word of God.
The service was created in a similar way to Open AI’s ChatGPT system, but with the addition of information from Awake Corp’s theological database. A committee of pastors regularly reviews its answers to ensure they are accurate.
Many pastors are familiar with Awake Corp and use their WeBible service to help them write sermons. They simply ask about a passage, and the service provides explanations, key messages, and reflective points. It even suggests a title!
About 20% of 650 Protestant ministers surveyed in South Korea by the Ministry Data Institute have used AI-backed services to write sermons, and about 60% said they found them useful when thinking of ideas for sermons.
However, pastors have been warned not to rely too heavily on AI. Lee Dong-Chan, pastor in Ansan, not far from Seoul, said: ‘Sermons written by AI can’t make people feel spiritually fulfilled. Preaching is also about dealing with people, so it is one of the few jobs that can’t be replaced by AI.’
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