In a meeting today with Church employees, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued guiding principles it will follow in the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Emergent technologies in construction, communication, and transportation have allowed the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to reach out to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the latest tool to help the message of Christ spread throughout the earth.
The following guiding principles are intended to support the responsible use of AI by the Church workforce. They may also be helpful for members and friends of the Church as they navigate a world changing due to AI.
Spiritual Connection
- The Church will use artificial intelligence to support and not supplant connection between God and His children.
- The Church will use artificial intelligence in positive, helpful, and uplifting ways that maintain the honesty, integrity, ethics, values, and standards of the Church.
Transparency
- People interacting with the Church will understand when they are interfacing with artificial intelligence.
- The Church will provide attribution for content created with artificial intelligence when the authenticity, accuracy, or authorship of the content could be misunderstood or misleading.
Privacy and Security
- The Church’s use of artificial intelligence will safeguard sacred and personal information.
Accountability
- The Church will use artificial intelligence in a manner consistent with the policies of the Church and all applicable laws.
- The Church will be measured and deliberate in its use of artificial intelligence by regularly testing and reviewing outputs to help ensure accuracy, truthfulness, and compliance.
The Church is beginning to use AI in family history work, accelerating and automating processes, and language translation and interpretation. Generative AI may also offer natural language queries and prompts to help Latter-day Saints find current and accurate information from designated, approved Church sources, such as ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Of course, there are concerns that some people will weaponize AI tools. Of particular concern are deepfakes, which are fictitious or malicious uses of someone’s name, image, and likeness. These are most likely to happen to people—such as Church leaders—who have a recognizable face and voice, a significant amount of video and audio in the public domain, and known and motivated antagonists. Relying on the Holy Spirit, wisdom, and trusted sources can help us recognize deepfakes.
Learn more by reading the article “Guiding Principles for the Church of Jesus Christ’s Use of Artificial Intelligence” from the Church’s Newsroom.
