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What is the buzz about AI?
AI or artificial intelligence has been all the buzz. We’re hearing all kinds of mixed information and reviews about what AI is and what it’s capable of doing, and it seems like it’s all changing so very quickly.
Today I want to share some of the negative things about AI with you, as well as some of the positive things that I’ve heard about AI recently. I also want to equip you with five key scriptures to help you navigate this seemingly “new reality” with your kids.
In other words, I simply want to make you aware of AI and what it is because as a parent you need to be aware of what it is. I also want to give you these biblical truths to cling to as we navigate these new waters, as parents, with our kiddos in this AI world.
Potential Negative Aspects of AI
So let’s start with the cons that I have seen and heard thus far about AI, or artificial intelligence. I feel like the thing that has exploded the use of AI really was the release of ChatGPT back in November of 2022, and I’m sure that you’ve probably heard about it by now, but if you have not yet heard about ChatGPT, it’s an artificial intelligence chatbot that allows people to have almost human-like conversations with it.
It was actually released as a free platform, which for me, raised a little bit of a red flag. I think at this point there’s actually already a paid version, but when it first came out as this free platform, I had this feeling in my gut, like “they’ve got people trying this new thing, getting hooked on this new thing and then eventually they’re going to ask everyone to upgrade and have a paid for version.”
With ChatGPT, you have a human-like conversation, asking the chatbot questions and it crawls all over the internet searching for answers, sort of like Google. The difference is that ChatGPT condenses the information down for you.
When I first heard about ChatGPT, I was thinking to myself, “I’m going to avoid this thing like the plague. I’m going to just stick my head in the sand. I don’t want anything to do with that.” But it was only a short matter of time before everyone was talking about it and starting to use it.
I remember at our family Christmas gatherings, (because ChatGPT had just come out in November) that in December everyone was talking about it and using it, and so I started to feel like, “you know, I think that it’s here to stay. Everyone is using it and I think that maybe I need at least get a better understanding of what it is,” and I also started to sort of have this fear creep up inside me of, thinking, “is there going to come a point where we honestly don’t know the difference between real and fake anymore, between reality and something that AI has created or come up with?”
As everyone was talking about it and starting to use it, and I was hearing more about it being out in the world, it started to raise all these questions and concerns within me, yet I knew that I had to get a better handle on what it was. (At this point I do think that there are a few ways that it can be used for good. We’ll talk about that more in just a bit.)
So one thing you need to be really aware of with all the AI that’s out there right now and more and more coming our way every single day, as a parent, is your kids and their schoolwork, and maybe you’ve already heard about this but kids are starting to use ChatGPT and other forms of AI to help with, or even complete some of their schoolwork.
It was really interesting because I recently received an email from a place called teachai.org, and the subject line of the email said, “preparing students for the AI driven world.” Part of the email read like this:
“When ChatGPT launched, I showed it to my children and my 16 year old immediately asked, “can I use this for homework?” Before I could answer, he added, “wait, what’s the point of school if this can do it all?”
Educators and classrooms are coping with questions like these globally, often banning access to buy time. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence technology continues to improve at an accelerating pace.
Large language models like GPT-4 have brought on a new wave of technology that will have a lasting impact on society. Although we’re still in the early stages, AI will be intertwined with our everyday lives and our education systems need to reflect that. There’s a pressing need for updated policies, standards, tools, and assessments to prepare students safely and equitably for an age of AI.”
Wow. I was blown away by this email. The truth is that educators and parents and even homeschool parents are going to have to take a look at things through a different lens. At this point, I’m honestly really glad that we homeschool and that I’m able to be really involved with my kids as they do their schoolwork, and I think that that’s what it’s going to have to come down to.
We’re going to have to have some honest conversations with our kids, and we’re going to need to be really involved in what they’re working on and what they’re looking at and what resources they’re utilizing and how they are utilizing them. Because like I said, I’ve already heard stories of kids trying to use ChatGPT and other forms of AI to actually write their full research papers for them, and I’ve heard of schools already trying to ban the use of AI altogether because it’s just progressing at such a crazy fast pace that parents and educators are all having a hard time keeping up with what exactly is happening, so it’s just really something to be aware of.
Another interesting thing is that my brother, who is heavily into research and development, he invents products in the agricultural industry, he had been playing around with ChatGPT, trying to do some research, and it was so interesting and wild because he was researching these things and ChatGPT was coming back with these answers and these resources. Then when he went to actually research the resources to verify and validate what ChatGPT was spitting out, he found that ChatGPT had actually not only crawled all over the internet and pulled information together, but that it had actually also created fake resources that didn’t actually exist.
To me that’s very scary when it comes to our kids using things like ChatGPT and other forms of AI to do research papers and then it’s spitting out these resources that may or may not even be real and/or exist.
So as we’re using AI and as our kids are using any form of AI, everything is going to have to be validated and verified because not everything that it is spitting out back to us is necessarily true, or even real all the time.
Again, I do think there are things that it can be used for good for. We’ll get to that in just a minute, but when it comes down to it, it seems like the line between true and false and real and fake is pretty blurry when it comes to AI, at least right now.
I heard of a famous podcaster actually being scammed recently. Someone had used AI to not only replicate his content, but also his voice, and they created an entirely brand new podcast that was totally fake. It was a complete recreation of this famous podcaster’s voice and content. I’ve heard a lot of other stories. Again, I’m not putting out this episode today to scare you but these are just some of the things that are starting to come out when it comes to AI.
Another thing, if you’re a parent, there’s a really good chance that you’ve heard all the buzz about Snapchat’s new AI feature. I have to admit, I found it pretty creepy. A lot of the Snapchat accounts incorporated AI into their platform as sort of a “virtual buddy,” a virtual chat bot friend. It had a little avatar that, in my honest opinion, was pretty creepy and weird, and I felt and still feel very uncomfortable about it. This little AI chat bot inside of Snapchat is having these very human-like and very strange conversations with kids and people using Snapchat. That’s just something to be aware of. Dive a little deeper, research that on your own.
Again, I’m not sharing all of this with you to make you feel scared, but rather just to make you aware of what’s happening out in the world, especially as you do your best to raise up your kids and the world is just progressing and moving so fast and AI is progressing and changing so quickly.
Like I mentioned before, I do want to talk about a few pros because I think a lot of things in this world, there are both pros and cons, good and bad. Social media, for example, can be used for so much good. It has been used for so much good. It obviously also has been used for evil and darkness, and so it’s just that we need to be aware of it, cautious of how we’re using it, and very involved with how our kids are using these different resources that are available to them.
Pros of AI and specifically ChatGPT
I really do think that there are potentially some good uses when it comes to AI. For example, I asked ChatGPT: “Show me 10 Bible verses for intentional living.”
Within seconds, ten fantastic Bible verses popped up. Again, I want to point out that we always want to go check the actual source and verify that the results that you’re getting with AI are true and real and pure. In this case, several of the Bible verses I had already tucked in my heart and so I knew they were accurate and true.
The other ones I did go and look up, they were accurate and true, but again, this is just not always the case with AI, specifically with ChatGPT. So you just want to go verify the results that are being given to you.
I think as entrepreneurs and podcasters, that using AI for getting ideas and brainstorming is potentially going to be a great benefit, but I think that we have to balance that and be so very, very careful to stay authentic.
To be honest, when it first came out, I was questioning to myself, “Are there going to be podcasters out there who ask ChatGPT to write them their entire podcast script and then they just go read that, regurgitate that on their podcast and lose all their authenticity?” And I honestly think the answer is yes. I think we will unfortunately see some of that.
I encourage anyone who’s using AI in the entrepreneurship world or for business, or if you’re a mompreneur of any type and you’re taking a look at using AI, I think that we have to be so careful to stay authentic and to validate everything and to make sure that we’re only using it for things like brainstorming and that the vast majority of our content is still coming authentically from our heart and our head and our wisdom and the years that we have walked around on this planet and what we have learned. AI will never be able to replicate that real human being touch and personal experience.
Ultimately, I feel like AI is mostly here to stay, so I want to stress how important it is that you become rooted in God’s word and God’s truth, especially in this moment in time that we’re living. It’s starting to feel harder to navigate what is real and what is fake around us. The thing is that, we can absolutely always know that God’s word is pure and true and good, and it is the ultimate truth. We can cling to that and we always can come back to that when we’re questioning things around us that are going on. We always, always can go back to God’s word to really know what is good, pure, and true.
Key Verses to Help You Navigate AI
I want to share a few key verses with you that you can memorize and you can tuck into your heart when you’re walking in these moments, specifically with AI, but also other moments in the world where you’re questioning what’s real, what’s fake, what’s pure and true, what is not. I would also encourage you to teach these verses to your kids and help them memorize them.
I have this fun little memorization hack that we use in homeschool. You can use it in your own home with your own kids, and even for yourself if you want to. As we’re learning new Bible verses, I will write them up on the wall on a whiteboard, and we’ll read through the scripture. We’ll read through the verse several times, and then I will take an eraser and I will begin to erase pieces of the verse, and we will continue reading it and reciting it, reading it, and reciting it. I’ll continue erasing words, erasing words, until eventually the entire scripture and verse is erased from the whiteboard and we’re just reciting it from memory and then we just practice it daily and we go back through the scriptures that we have learned and we practice them frequently.
We go through the scriptures that are tucked in our heart because that’s how we retain and remember and keep them in our mind and in our heart. Continue to practice and recite those verses! That’s just a fun little memorization hack for you that I actually learned from Andrew Pudewa at IEW, the Institute for Excellence in Writing. It’s a great hack!
Okay, the first verse is Philippians 4:8. This is one of my favorites. This is one of the first verses that I had my kids learn and memorize, and it says, “finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”
What really stands out to me in this verse is just thinking on and focusing on what is true, what is right, and what is pure. This verse tells us to meditate on and think on such things.
The second verse is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. It says,”all scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training and righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” So, Philippians 4:8 tells us to think on what’s good, pure, and true. And 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, all scripture is true and good and pure because it’s God breathed. I find that verse just backs up Philippians 4:8.
The third one is Hebrews 4:12. It says, “The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” This is another one that I taught my kids early on because again, it just backs up and tells us and teaches us that the word of God is not only good, pure, true, and God breathed, but it’s also alive and active.
It’s living with us today. It’s real life today. It’s applicable today. It’s active today. No matter what’s going on in the world, no matter how quickly things are progressing, we can know that the word of God is right here with us living and active.
The fourth verse is Romans 15:4. It says, “for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the scriptures and the encouragement they provide, we might have hope.”
This verse really speaks to my heart at a time such as this. The words that stand out to me in Romans 15:4 are encouragement and hope. We don’t have to sit here and live in fear. We can cling to the encouragement and hope that God’s word provides. I just think that’s awesome.
The fifth verse is Joshua 1:8. It says, “keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Joshua 1:8 reminds us to meditate on God’s word, to be careful to do everything that’s written in it, and I just think that is such a key verse as it’s reminding us that we really need to be in God’s word. It needs to be open and active in our life. We need to be flipping through the pages and reading through it and meditating on it day and night. It’s alive, it’s pure, it’s true, it’s good, it’s real in this crazy, progressing world.
A bonus verse I want to share with you is Psalm 119:105. It says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.” It’s a lamp and a light. God’s word will guide our way. Instead of opening up ChatGPT or other forms of AI, maybe as believers, as followers of Jesus, what we need to do instead is open up our Bible. Maybe you go to the index to research the topic that you’re about to type into ChatGPT, and let’s check God’s word first, before we go to these other sources that may or may not be true and pure and real, because God’s word is a lamp and it’s a light.
I want to leave you with this… This is something that I shared with my kids. We kind of made it into a little rhyme in our homeschool this year. I told them “to keep God’s word, we gotta know God’s word. And to know God’s word, we gotta read God’s word.” That’s just a little encouragement to really dig into these scriptures as you’re navigating this new reality.
Let’s recap those powerful, true verses: The first one, Philippians 4:8 tells us to think on what’s good, pure, true, and right. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that the scripture is God breathed, that it’s used for training and righteousness and for equipping believers.
Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God is alive and active. Romans 15:4 says that the scriptures are used to provide us with encouragement and hope. Joshua 1:8 says to meditate on God’s word and to be careful to do everything written in it. And that bonus verse, Psalm 119:105 says that the scriptures are a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
I hope you found this so encouraging today. I do want to mention my Faith Fueled Breakthrough life coaching course because if you’re in this place where you feel like you really want to dig into the scriptures and know more and learn more about God’s word, but you don’t really know how, inside of that program, I have an entire module dedicated to teaching you and equipping you how to read through God’s word and how to do it without frustration and how to do it with intention and purpose, how to read through the entire Bible and what translations of Bibles you might find helpful to read through. You can check out that program at FaithFueledBreakthrough.com
All right, sweet friend, I just want to speak into your life as always, encouragement and hope and wisdom. That’s what I’m here for, and so I hope that we accomplished that today. I pray that you take the wisdom that you gleaned here today, and that you implement it into your life and that you choose not to navigate AI with fear, but rather that you turn to the Lord and His word, and that you just become so rooted in truth, that you are equipped to walk in wisdom and to shake off the fear and to just walk forward following God’s best plan for your life and for that of your kids. Until we meet again, keep living and loving with deep faith and great joy.
