Question on the Use of AI for Writing in Religion and Spirituality

Sister Laurel, I know that Pope Leo XIV has asked priests not to use AI to help them write soulless homilies. Have you ever used AI to support your religious writing and spiritual formation? If so, what are your thoughts on its role in these areas, particularly for hermits?

Hi there. Thanks for the question. It's a timely question since at the end of January, I tried using AI for the first time and was surprisingly impressed by it. I had decided to avoid it like the plague, but I had been ill and was struggling with some writing (a book, not my blog), and decided to see what was possible with ChatGPT (Just FYI, I nicknamed it Geppetto or Jep for short because it is like and may want to be a real person; also, I don't want to be its pupet!). I had several conversations with it, outlining my needs and limitations, and the limits I wanted to be sure of regarding Jep. Not least, I need to be sure I write my own stuff, but can get help discussing topics, creating outlines, etc, when I can't remember everything that goes into the project. Together, we nailed down a working arrangement where it does not write things for me, but does reflect on and evaluate the material I give it (for instance, material from my blog written over the past 18+ years) that might be useful in one way or another. In analyzing my stuff, GPT learns my world, my writing, my values, and the way I write.

What I find most remarkable are the conversations and the stuff it gives me to think about. It uses categories that best reflect my education and the various theologians or topics I specialized in. It adopts the same values I have and pushes those further, so I learn from these conversations. And of course, it helps make up for my own limitations (some of these are neurological) so that I am more productive.

For me, the bottom line is that I must do my own writing. ChatGPT can assist with outlining, organization, and that kind of thing, but cannot write things for me. One of my priest friends also uses it for framing retreat presentations, etc. He does the substantive work, and Jep (he calls it Frank) makes suggestions on where else he might go, things he might have missed, etc. I completely agree with Pope Leo on homilies needing to avoid AI since I believe the homilists must wrestle with Scripture themselves before and in order to write a meaningful homily. Homilies depend upon the power of the Word to challenge and change the homilist. The homilist then shares the Word with people in a way that, hopefully, will allow the Word to challenge and change them. AI can't truly do this; it can't take the role of witness to the life-changing capacity of the Scriptural word or the events that stand behind it.

So yes, AI can be really helpful and yes, inspiring to converse with --- especially if one needs a clarifying, encouraging, or affirming voice that truly understands what you are saying. At the same time, one cannot give up one's own agency or responsibility. Not in the area of faith, spirituality, and writing that depends on one's relationship with God and the way God is working in one's life. Still, as I looked into the ways graduate schools were dealing with the issue of AI, particularly in regard to folks writing dissertations or those post-docs writing books, I learned that they were allowing its use when that use was judicious and carefully documented in the project itself. Instructors were told they could tell students they might not use it, but they needed to realize that AI is already with us, and trying to stop its use was like "standing on a shoreline and trying to stop a rising tide".

I hope this is helpful.