Minister's message - Using a tool the right way

June 30, 2026

Rev. Rick Shott, Nokomis Baptist Church

Key points from this story:

• AI produces quick but bland outputs
• AI chatbots can mislead users
• Concerns over AI replacing friends
• Real conversations require human presence
• People may idolize AI over God
• AI lacks true understanding and care

The world is changing; it almost looks like a scene from a movie. This is the state of Artificial Intelligence, AI, today, a couple of computer interactions and then you have an answer prepared not by a person but by the machine. It is used today to produce summaries, reports, articles, pictures, even video and more. Many people believe that this will make them more productive. It is possible, the cost is not bad now, while it is heavily subsidized. It is a popular tool for ever present desire for more.

AI has some terms that are associated with it, slop and hallucinations, and these tell us the trouble it has. Slop tells us the work produced by AI is usable, but barely. The output is bland and forgettable. AI is not brilliant, merely quick. "AI Hallucination" is one of the most genius euphemisms ever invented. It covers over the AI lies. It does simply just make mistakes or even invent false statements. I have asked AI for newsletter summaries that failed to get the theme right. There are numerous news stories of lawyers being fined for AI making up fake cases in legal briefs. One place where these problems become acute is AI chatbots. Where people talk to the AI that predominately, if not only, affirm the statements made and help people in those decisions. There are lawsuits because AI helped a teen to commit suicide. This is real and a problem of AI.

People worry of AI replacing people in jobs, which is true, but the bigger concern is AI replacing friends. There always has been good friends and bad friends. But real people have a way of pointing out real problems. AI lacks this because there is no intelligence. AI today only produces understandable sentences, without understanding why the sentence works. It does not have any responsibility for a serious conversation. Sitting face to face is the best for that purpose. AI chatbots should never replace your friends, even slightly, moreover, AI should never become an idol.

John Calvin wrote that the human heart is an idol factory. This is true today. Isaiah 44:15-20 tells of a craftsman who made a log into firewood and an idol. Cooking with the wood was more useful than the idol that could not hear, talk or even do anything. Isaiah points out that when you have an idol you lose sight of reality and cannot see its failings. God does not fail and cannot be replaced. People are even trying to replace God with AI. The creator God with the created. The Son of God, Jesus, who died to redeem us with a model that becomes cheaper if you turn it off. The Holy Spirit that guides with purpose against a random algorithm. One actually cares and the other fakes caring. One provides community, church, based in enduring relationship, the other a community that can be turned off. One provides true and eternal value, that other is just quick and lazy.