Feature
5 Oct 2026
Artificial intelligence has become a leading paradigm of our day. Studies in Singapore showed that more than 50% of children aged eight have made use of AI tools. Among 10-year-olds, the figure is higher at more than 70%. It reaches 90% among children who are 13.
AI use is becoming increasingly pervasive, causing distress in some circles. Several of the winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Competition in 2026 are strongly suspected of submitting AI written entries, though they claim otherwise. Is this the end of talented and creative human writers?
AI use is also becoming rampant in educational institutions. In his insightful article, “The Despair of the Professor in the Age of AI”, New Yorker writer Jay Caspian Kang raises common concerns among professors in US colleges. He lists the experiences and views of 12 academics who find it challenging to teach students who rely heavily on AI to hand in neatly composed papers that are at best superficial when closely examined. The students are learning less and thinking less.
The fear is that the university might be abused to get nothing more than degrees (and employment) rather than a real education. One professor grimly commented, “I am about to be forty-five; if my job still exists by the time I am fifty, I will consider myself lucky”. Many others share her pessimism about higher education.
Not only is AI producing significant impact in many fields, including education, professions such as law, medicine, business and science are also being impacted. In addition, because of the exponential growth in AI and its many applications, it is now much easier to produce videos that purport to be historical accounts.
Take for instance, an explosion of videos that contain amazing stories of bravery during the second World War. While these videos seem inspiring and instructive, closer examination reveals unreliable, even fake, presentations. I saw some of them and found telltale signs of AI distortions. Many provide photos that are hyper-real; often the characters depicted in various videos tend to look alike. Victims are dressed in military uniform, even if it is a teacher or farmer. In one video Nazi soldiers are seen seated in front of laptops!
The videos are lengthy, approaching almost two hours – we wonder where all the information they contain comes from. Or is it made up as a narrative containing what has come to be termed as “AI slop” or “AI hallucination”?
A UNESCO paper, “AI and the Holocaust” Rewriting History?” warns against “the potential for manipulation by malicious actors, the introduction of falsehoods or dissemination of biased information, and the gradual erosion of public trust in authentic records”. Far-right groups have also produced videos that deny Holocaust facts and spread hate speech.
Not only is AI producing historical slop and misrepresentations, but it is also producing fake singers and what purport to be music videos. These can sound authentic, but the lyrics, music and production are all AI-made.
All this AI technology is being embraced by Christian producers. Solomon Ray, a viral AI-generated blues and gospel artist is not a real person, but he (or it) topped the iTunes Christian and Gospel charts in late 2025. His album had a mass following on Facebook and Instagram. Concerned critics question whether such a digital entity, without a soul, could sing or lead Christian worship. How can the Holy Spirit influence a digital machine?
Such videos are being produced at an accelerated pace filling the social media and landing on mobile phones and other devices. Without discernment, Christians can be saturated with such AI produced media.
In addition, it is now very easy to generate instructive Christian videos focusing on doctrines, theology, biographies, and history. A giveaway is the AI generated voice that tends to be monotonous and would not have the breathing sounds of a real speaker or singer. One hears such machine voices across numerous Christian videos today.
Some videos are clearly fake; for example, videos are made of well-known Christian leaders speaking or preaching sermons, some of them even with good lip synchronisation. I saw some videos that created fake sermons preached by Pope Leo XIV. He spoke like a modern American evangelical but he is not.
It is perhaps because of this that in his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), the pope focuses on AI and the need to be more critical and careful about its potential abuses. “We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fullness in Christ, the splendor of which no machine can ever replace,” he wrote.
In addressing the danger of unfettered AI use, the pope said, “Artificial Intelligence now demands to be disarmed, freed from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion and death.” The pope urged AI developers and political leaders responsible for regulating them to slow down and to reflect on what they are doing. He said they must use ethical and spiritual guidelines to choose to work not for their own profit or power, but the betterment of humanity.
The pope compared the dangers of AI to the proud building of the Tower of Babel, preferring technical prowess to the reality and sovereignty of God and authentic human flourishing (cf. a similar point I made in my article, “The Promise and Peril of Technology”, Jan 1, 2024, ETHOS Institute feature article).
What does all this mean for the pew and pulpit in our churches? Pastors must pause thoughtfully and prayerfully on how they embrace AI technology (in generating sermons, articles, making sermon slides) to ensure that it will not replace prayerful waiting on God and the involvement of their minds, souls, and hearts in how they minister.
Christians in the pews must be careful about how they consume AI produced videos and songs, ensuring that they will not compromise on spending time at the feet of Christ, and letting Him rather than machines teach and shape them.
Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World (1932) describes a futuristic world state in the year 2540 that is technologically advanced. In that future, untethered scientific adventurism and manufactured happiness take priority over individual freedom, art and spiritual depth.
This disturbing portrayal of the future of human society is now at our doorstep, speeded up by AI in its many applications. It is important that we are guided by moral and spiritual foundations as our human dignity and future face uncertain dangers.
