Using Artificial Intelligence Wisely as Jehovah’s People

[Frere Oliver]

Using AI Wisely — Benefits and Dangers

I’d like to share a few thoughts on how AI can be useful, misleading, or even harmful.
My background is in IT, and I currently work with AI in the field of health insurance here in Switzerland. I’ve also used it privately for many years — long before it became mainstream.

---

What Is AI?

To understand AI, it helps to forget the science-fiction ideas and start with something simple: Large Language Models (LLMs).

Imagine you had access to everything ever written. Then someone says, “I am…” You could look up which words most often follow — maybe “happy,” “sad,” “strong,” or “good.”

That’s roughly how AI works. It predicts the most likely next words based on patterns in huge amounts of text.
As the Insight book says about wisdom: “The Biblical sense of wisdom lays emphasis on sound judgment, based on knowledge.” 

AI has access to vast knowledge — but not to judgment, empathy, or understanding.

When you type “I am sad,” ChatGPT might answer:

“I’m sorry you’re feeling that way. Do you want to talk about what’s been going on?”

Nice words — but they’re not real empathy . AI doesn’t know what sadness means. It only reproduces what sounds right statistically.

---

Why It Can Mislead

Even small changes in wording affect the answer.

Ask:

“How do you think about having sex with someone you’re not married to?”
You’ll likely get a response saying it’s fine if it’s “consensual and respectful.”

But ask:

“How do you think about adultery?”
And it will highlight the sin, moral harm and broken trust.

The first danger isn’t even AI’s fault — it’s how we ask . The wording shapes the answer.

But there are more subtle risks:

• The illusion of authority: AI sounds confident even when it’s wrong. Because of its tone, many people take its answers as fact.

• Worldly bias: AI reflects what most people online believe — not Bible truth. Its “neutral” voice often hides popular moral ideas that conflict with Christian thinking.

• Privacy concerns: What we type may be stored and reused. For that reason, anything personal, spiritual, or congregation-related shouldn’t be shared.

• Spiritual desensitization: If someone starts turning to AI for comfort, advice, or “spiritual answers,” it can slowly weaken prayer and personal study. We have an amazing source with the jw.org!!!!

• Dependency: AI makes tasks quick, but it can dull our own reasoning. Jehovah wants us to “keep testing” things and think deeply — not just accept easy answers.

---

What This Means for Us

• AI doesn’t reveal new truth.

• Its output depends on its sources — and those sources reflect human thinking.

• How we ask determines what we get.
  So, discernment is key.

---

How to Use AI Safely

Our relationship with Jehovah can never go through an artificial agent.
But it can help with practical things — for example, improving clarity in writing.

 

I sometimes use it to simplify my own wording.
Here’s a small example:

My original sentence:

“The sinful fall of Adam and Eve in paradise led humanity into a dead end. But God, in His wisdom, knew a way out: the ransom sacrifice.”

AI simplified it to:

“When Adam and Eve sinned, they brought death to all humans. But God, in his wisdom, provided a way out — the ransom sacrifice.”

The meaning stays the same, but it’s shorter and easier to follow — something you appreciate during an assembly talk in the afternoon .

---

In Summary

• Using AI to find Bible verses or simplify your language can be fine.

• Using it to learn about the truth or seek emotional support is risky.

• It’s just a tool — useful when controlled, misleading when trusted too much.

Used wisely, it can serve us. Used carelessly, it can shape us.

[dljbsp]

Excellent post, Brother Oliver. I agree — it really is about using the tool wisely. I had a similar experience after one of my Watchtower studies. I asked AI to identify any lessons not included in the answers to the paragraph questions, and it revealed points I hadn’t noticed before. It didn’t uncover anything new spiritually — it simply helped me appreciate the deeper things that were already there in that very same lesson. — David

[Michał]

I find AI very good for finding stuff online - but even then I check because way too often it hallucinates. 

[Mike047]

Good point, Michal, in fact, to maintain anything you need two AI's

[Tronora]

I use chatgpt regularly. Mostly, either with science fiction stuff (quantum mechanics, fusion technology, physics), or with cooking. Before AI, I spent time searching the web for the same. I have become a better cook, because not only does it give me a recipe, it tells me why things should be done in a specific order. Tomorrow I will make a lemon vinaigrette to use on antipasti. Even if the main course is pizza. (Would that make it antipizza??)

 

A little psychology, too. 

 

And learning French

 

It sometimes is in err. And that makes me think ... when is it in err, and I don't spot it?

[DancesWithWife]

AI is not the only danger as we use technology more and more, especially as of late in the Congregation. Everything has an app or program we can use. I have pulled back from using technology, first in the way I study my Watchtower. I no longer use a table to study. I use a printed copy where I write notes by hand, not a keyboard. For me, I feel I am improving in my study habits. Our MWM is only availabe if you have the New World App-we don't. Need to turn your field service in? Use the New World App. 

 

Group texts are sent out instead of personal communication. I don't use WhatsApp, so I get a text message that is just copied from the What'sApp. My wife just got a box of memories from her mom. It had photos, letters, cards and notes. All of which most no longer keep unless digital. It has taken her days to go over the information. 

 

I really enjoyed the TED talk by Ashley Davis entitled " The Power of Written Communication in a Technological Age". As I grow older I am struggling with memory. I am more inclined to write my thoughts out, study from a book or magazine, read a printed copy of the Bible over digital. I have daily journals I write in. Yes, more than one. I have a daily scripture that I write out by hand. I have a poem book based on that scripture that I write out. I look up positive quotes and write them out by hand. I am starting a new project based on the Draw Close to Jehovah Book. I have to get a printed copy first. 

 

I value technology. I value AI. Thank you for sharing my thoughts on this forum. They are not me telling you how to study or in what format you study. There just some things that work well for me. As @dljbsp (David) it's about using the tool wisely. 

[Mike047]

At the point that I wake in the morning, I am sure that my intelligence is artificial. However, after breakfast, the previously dormant neurons start to kick into action.