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Despite popular belief, artificial intelligence is often used in the technology that we regularly interact with.
We use many forms of technology on a daily basis that grant us convenience and instant gratification. Whatever the technology may be, some people believe these conveniences can impede our own potential (whether it be a lessening of skills, intelligence, or patience).
Perhaps one of the biggest advancements in technology we have today is artificial intelligence (AI). While there may be a perception on AI stunting human ingenuity, today’s blog will be showing the ways in which artificial intelligence is used in everyday life and how it can even help pastors.
In a nutshell, “artificial intelligence” is the ability for machines to take in information (sets of data) and use the information to solve problems –– similar to the way we as humans think about problem solving.
Artificial intelligence has varying levels of advanced problem solving through machine learning and deep learning. Machine learning allows devices to problem solve based on algorithms programmed by humans, while deep learning takes this a step further by allowing machines to self-improve any mistakes in their algorithm and therefore perform tasks more accurately through error and vast data.
If interested in learning more about how artificial intelligence works, and what exactly “machine learning” and “deep learning” mean, you can read more here.
While people may have their own idea of what “artificial intelligence” is, the technology is so broad and versatile that it can be hard to narrow down what exactly it’s used for.
According to Brian Kennedy, Alec Tyson, and Emily Saks of the Pew Research Center, a new Pew survey as of 2023 shows that “many Americans are aware of common ways they might encounter artificial intelligence (AI) in daily life, such as customer service chatbots and product recommendations based on previous purchases.” Although, after surveying 11,004 U.S. adults on the uses of AI in daily life, “only three-in-ten are able to correctly identify all six uses of AI asked about in the survey.”
When it comes to general awareness of AI in everyday life, survey answers show:
On the public perception of AI, the survey shows Americans to generally be cautious of AI’s impact on life in the U.S.:
Despite popular belief, artificial intelligence is often used in the technology that we regularly interact with.
The following is 5 examples in which we interact with artificial intelligence on a day-to-day basis:
Whether at home or in your pocket, many people in today’s world have access to virtual assistance devices such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, or Google Assistant.
According to Forbes contributor Bernard Marr, these assistance devices use a function of AI called “natural language processing,” which allows them to listen to language commands, process the information, carry out the task, and even respond in a human-like manner.
Whether you’re responding to someone via text, composing an email, or using an app to help edit your grammar, you’re interacting with AI.
Arjun Sha of info technology website Beebom, explains that Gmail’s “smart compose” feature uses AI to suggest “complete sentences based on the preceding line that you have written.” Similar to this, Gmail and iPhone messaging also offer predictive words or responses based on what you type.
When responding to an email, Gmail might offer a pre-written response based on the content of the email you’re responding to.
As you type on the keyboard of your iPhone, Apple uses predictive text to potentially fill in the following word.
Lastly, if you’re typing up a document on Google Drive or using Grammarly: the autocorrects, the color-coded squiggly lines that highlight typos or grammatical errors, and the suggestions for how to reword a sentence, are all a product of artificial intelligence.
If you’ve ever used a navigation app, such as Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze, then you’ve interacted with AI.
Navigation and travel apps use artificial intelligence to keep you up to date on changing traffic patterns, alternative routes, potential hazards, closed down roads, or car accidents, current weather, shortcuts, and toll roads.
Whether you’re suggested a movie recommendation by Netflix, an artist you might like by Spotify, or a nice pair of pants to go with the shirt you just bought on Amazon, these are all examples of artificial intelligence.
Streaming services and online retail use AI to offer content or products based on consumer patterns and behavior, such as what you’re clicking on, buying, watching, or listening to.
Similar to suggestions based on streaming content and online shopping, social media utilizes AI to tailor user feeds. Indian Tech company, Cyfuture, states that:
“By analyzing user behavior, such as likes, shares, and clicks, as well as demographic and psychographic data, social media platforms can gain valuable insights into what content individuals are most likely to engage with.”
Cyfuture goes on by saying that “As algorithms become more sophisticated,” Artificial intelligence is able to analyze and use this data to show social media users content, ads, and news geared toward their preferences.
It’s clear many of us use artificial intelligence regularly. These uses simply add convenience, such as finding the quickest route during a commute to work or finding a new show similar to your favorite one.
Pastors can now use the convenience of artificial intelligence when putting together weekly sermons. Throughout the days leading up to Sunday, pastors can cut back on the time that it takes to structure sermon outlines or conduct research.
With the help of AI-led sermon preparation applications, pastors can generate sermon outlines, find relevant verses or stories in the Bible for a given topic, conduct research, develop character studies and even come up with modern day examples of biblical teachings.
While some people may be skeptical of AI, most people aren’t familiar with how common artificial intelligence already is in today’s world. In spite of this, many of us use AI on a daily basis as it provides simple conveniences that we may not even think about.
The convenience of AI is something pastors can now take advantage of when developing impactful sermons. While artificial intelligence shouldn’t be used to write the sermon itself, it’s an effective tool for allowing pastors to communicate the Word of God with ease.
