AI, while not yet *true* AI, frightens me. The pieces of the system, in separation, don't frighten me. Using some pieces as tools has shown some positive in my days, but the tools are being used as tools. Much like any tool it can, and likely will, be used as a weapon. The frightening piece for me is what happens when they all integrate. When all the tools come together to form a coherent, singular system, what happens? The Church has stood for thousands of years, successfully evangelizing the world without these tools. Yes, the Church used the tools of the culture from the beginning in her efforts to reach those around her. We see the Greeks using philosophical language and teaching techniques, the Romans taking over the architecture of the pagans and making it Christian, the Alexandrians and Cappadocians writing volumes of theological texts, Germans using the printing press and getting their canons into the hands of the people, the Americans using TV and radio, and the list goes on and on. What we also see in each one of these tools is abuse. I could enumerate several, but I suspect we're all at least somewhat familiar with the abuses of so-called Christians of the past. Artificial intelligence currently stands precariously on the ledge. If the winds of culture continue to blow as they do, it can fall and become a hindrance to the Church if it's used. It could be grabbed hold of by the Church and made Christian, like the pagan architecture and statues of old. But I have to ask, does it need to be Christianized? It's not a false god, it's not standing in a place of ritual, nor is it even that good at what it does some times. The Christianization of things in the past, and today, is all about Christ's victory over death, sin, and demons. There are those out there, right now, trying to take the AI tools and integrate them in such a way that the AI can spit out a report of the people who attended service on Sunday using facial recognition. Some are trying to take the data from church management systems and calculate which members are the biggest givers and to help write letters and media campaigns to get more donations from them. Still others are using the AI to help with researching a topic while others use it to just write their sermons. In each of these cases, the line between tool and weapon becomes very, very faint. Tracking church attendance sounds like a good idea until that attendance becomes a requirement for one's salvation. You may think that I'm going too far, but there are literally "Christian" churches today who teach that missing a Sunday service is damnable. How many more will take such a stance when they're able to track attendance without having to put in the effort? Still worse, how many church leaders will begin to cater to those big donors and ignore Jesus sitting in the pew because he looks like a homeless man? Or how many will stop proclaiming the Gospel in certain ways because it may offend the donors? Again, I'm simply taking things to some logical conclusions. It's already happening in some churches where that data is available. I know of one, personally, that changed the way they teach certain things because the big giver in the church left. They were teaching in a way that kept him happy, not in the way that was *right*. I'm a huge fan of research, so using AI to speed that up seems like a terrific idea. Give me a tool that I can easily search all of the writings of Christian history in one go and compile the summary with sources, I'm in. But again, tool versus weapon. When the creator of such a tool decides that Augustine isn't really Christian and thus removes his writings, or decides that Arius or Origen should be prioritized, what happens? I can tell you what happens, that person or team or company shapes Christian thought for the next century and beyond. When leaders put their trust in the tool to give them information, it can quickly become a weapon. In that same vein, those leaders using the tools to write their sermons are playing a very dangerous game. If they themselves are not mature and trained in the Scriptures and Christian Tradition how easily can they be manipulated into teaching their members a falsehood? We're on a precipice, and choices must be made. There are tools available to us today that weren't available 5 years ago let alone 100. How we choose to use these tools whether just personally or in a church setting is a decision that we cannot look upon lightly. The total affect of the choice must be weighed against our own prayer lives, our own maturity level, and our understanding of what The Church truly is. If our weighing of this choice is unbalanced and shaky, we must take a step back and consider whether the use of the tool is truly vital to our ability to serve Christ and His Church.