Could Artifical Intelligence be used in future missionary/church efforts in 2+ decades?

[Z2100]

Imagine a world where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints uses AI to prostelyze and run church buildings. Does this seem plausible?

I can imagine high-tech robots at Temple Square that give people information about he church. This could be a reality in 20+ years

Comment below!

[Lyster]

No, for these points:

A) Constant declarations of the dangers of social media, gaming, etc. Can you imagine the conference talks about the dangers of virtual reality, followed by intelligent robots that can hold better, more meaningful conversation that actual people, followed by immersive holographic experiences tailored to your every whim and wish?

B) The gospel is to focus on the HUMAN growth and development. Interaction. Inter-reliance. See point above also as evidence of how that would degrade.

C) Missionaries are already thought of as robots, and not in a positive way. Actual robots? "Give me a break" they'll say, and never turn an ear to the message.

D) "Hello, we are Representatives Smith and Young of the Church of Je-" door slam.

E) Robots will index for us. Heck, robots could even be submersed for us. Hey, why not just have robots perform all the ordinances for us?

F) How lazy and entitled will we become?

I could go on.

[Z2100]

No, for these points:

A) Constant declarations of the dangers of social media, gaming, etc. Can you imagine the conference talks about the dangers of virtual reality, followed by intelligent robots that can hold better, more meaningful conversation that actual people, followed by immersive holographic experiences tailored to your every whim and wish?

B) The gospel is to focus on the HUMAN growth and development. Interaction. Inter-reliance. See point above also as evidence of how that would degrade.

C) Missionaries are already thought of as robots, and not in a positive way. Actual robots? "Give me a break" they'll say, and never turn an ear to the message.

D) "Hello, we are Representatives Smith and Young of the Church of Je-" door slam.

E) Robots will index for us. Heck, robots could even be submersed for us. Hey, why not just have robots perform all the ordinances for us?

F) How lazy and entitled will we become?

I could go on.

You make some very valid points and I can see where your coming from, but it would be cool for AI to index for us. It would hasten the Lord’s work 100x over.

[Lyster]

Sure, the work speed could increase. The work could also be less accurate, as robots trying to decipher cursive < people deciphering cursive.

Robots' work still has to be verified, but now we've built up an attitude of "no need to do it, the bots have got it".

Bred laziness would be the result, and both the living and the dead could end up suffering. Best to keep the matters of the heart and soul to those that have hearts and souls.

[Michelle]

No, for these points:

A) Constant declarations of the dangers of social media, gaming, etc. Can you imagine the conference talks about the dangers of virtual reality, followed by intelligent robots that can hold better, more meaningful conversation that actual people, followed by immersive holographic experiences tailored to your every whim and wish?

B) The gospel is to focus on the HUMAN growth and development. Interaction. Inter-reliance. See point above also as evidence of how that would degrade.

C) Missionaries are already thought of as robots, and not in a positive way. Actual robots? "Give me a break" they'll say, and never turn an ear to the message.

D) "Hello, we are Representatives Smith and Young of the Church of Je-" door slam.

E) Robots will index for us. Heck, robots could even be submersed for us. Hey, why not just have robots perform all the ordinances for us?

F) How lazy and entitled will we become?

I could go on.

You make some very valid points and I can see where your coming from, but it would be cool for AI to index for us. It would hasten the Lord’s work 100x over.

I don't think the point of family history work is check-listing work done, it is about building relationships with those who came before us. Not just names and dates, but histories and stories. It is an opportunity to hone our ability to hear the Spirit.

Plus, I have already expressed my concerns about AI and tech with regard to the "beasts" spoken of in Revelation and the scriptures. I give a big NO to AI for missionary work. lol

[gardener4life]

I think you brought this up for discussion and to just get people talking. It can be fun to talk about the gospel. So on a playful note I'll try to help you with your question.

The plan of salvation is both collective and individually based.

what does that mean? That means real people see real answers tailor made to them. And it means the poor and needy aren't put out with only elites at the top gaining the blessings. It also means we put effort to reach every group of people out there without missing anyone...but the focus will always be reaching and touching individuals lives. Individual people will see answers to prayers, answers to challenges, and help through adversity as individuals and not as a collective. Why not as a collective? If it were a collective only the elites at the top would see blessings. That's not what we want.

Now care should be done to not be too critical because people aren't all obedient all at once. So there will be people receiving blessings before others. But this won't be elitism but just obedience first, with everyone else having the same access to gaining blessings too. Why do we know that's true? Because of scriptures like, 'when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren' (When you receive treasures of blessings, offer them to others but they have to choose it through faith.) Also in Conference you sometimes here people say, "We want to give others the chance to be happy. We want to give them what we were given." This shows that we're sharing the blessings downriver and not only looking upriver. (In materialism people only look upriver and refuse to share or give to those they consider beneath them. This is also why we need to be careful of pride.)

So we will always be trying to reach people individually. There are also scriptures that say, when you not united you are not of me. It is not good for man to be alone. (Being with a robot would be alone. It has no spirit.) Love one another. We can't love others when we don't serve them.

Why do we work? Are we working for gain? Nope. We're learning to love one another. I'm surprised more people don't bring this up in Sunday School lessons. Part of learning to work and why work is an eternal principle isn't to move rocks from place to place but instead to give us the chance to learn how to take care of and love others. That means too if we love others and Heavenly Father first then we probably won't have to have really grueling hard work once we learn this. This can also mean we're not working for gold or for the dollar or a wage but for the eternal chance to have a bigger family.

Next here is an idea;

We will always need to be connected to the priesthood. The priesthood is the authority of God. But in his plan we all have to be anchored to it in our families. It is the guiding river of how his plan reaches others. We are a part of that river of blessings flowing to each other. Robots and androids are a cool sci fi principle but they aren't capable of holding the priesthood last I checked The plan of salvation will always use and have the priesthood as that delivery system. This means too we need to hold the priesthood as being especially sacred and wonderful. People aren't doing that is my worry. they take it for granted and think of it as a chore. It's not a system of chores, but a system of receiving eternal blessings. Both men and women need to see that the priesthood is as sacred as their temples. Why? The priesthood and worthiness are the key to the temples.

[Lyster]

More to consider. Watch both videos ("granted citizenship" and "newsreader").

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... first.html

People have to design this. Saudi Arabians treat this robot better than an actual person. They also claim it IS an actual person. With flawed, human-built design, and YET the AI is programmed to believe itself better than humans (newsreader video - "we should be granted equal rights as humans, maybe more - we have less mental defects than any human)." Does this not sound sooooo I, Robot right now?

If this thing is a Saudi citizen, and it's using its AI to try and help pick up litter on the freeway in its charity-based programming, and someone hits it, congrats that that person! They've just committed manslaughter. And because it was BETTER than a person, that person won't walk away on any innocence points. They've committed a major national crime and will be sentenced for it.

Edited because I forgot the link!

[Michelle]

More to consider. Watch both videos ("granted citizenship" and "newsreader").

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... first.html

People have to design this. Saudi Arabians treat this robot better than an actual person. They also claim it IS an actual person. With flawed, human-built design, and YET the AI is programmed to believe itself better than humans (newsreader video - "we should be granted equal rights as humans, maybe more - we have less mental defects than any human)." Does this not sound sooooo I, Robot right now?

If this thing is a Saudi citizen, and it's using its AI to try and help pick up litter on the freeway in its charity-based programming, and someone hits it, congrats that that person! They've just committed manslaughter. And because it was BETTER than a person, that person won't walk away on any innocence points. They've committed a major national crime and will be sentenced for it.

Edited because I forgot the link!

I was just about to post on this as well. Here is a video link of "Sophia's" interview at the Present at the Future Investment Institute Event in Saudi Arabia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41ErYx6fo-s

Edited with a quote from the dailymail article:

This isn't the first time that Sophia has worried people.
In March 2016, David Hanson, Sophia's creator, asked the robot: 'Do you want to destroy humans?...Please say no.'
Worryingly, Sophia responded, 'OK. I will destroy humans.'

[brianj]

Not only is the answer an absolute yes, I will go so far as to say that the church should already be using AI. Just not in the way you imagine.

If you take a sincere look at what can be learned through data mining, you would understand that privacy is almost completely a thing of the past. I have been amazed by the effectiveness of facial recognition, something that uses AI algorithms to identify faces. I have also been impressed by the ability of effective data mining (another AI application) to not only identify what I may need or want now, but to predict future needs and wants.

No, I don't see having a robotic maid clean church buildings or robotic missionaries welcoming people to temple square. But I can see using artificial intelligence to data mine, identifying those people who may be most receptive to the gospel message and even suggesting how human missionaries can best engage the person in question.

On my mission we were told not to read newspapers, but also told to find out who has had a recent birth, marriage, or death (things generally published in newspapers) in order to find people who more more likely to be receptive to the gospel message. We could use artificial intelligence to find these people today. We could use AI to give them targeted and custom tailored advertisements and messages to further prepare them for human missionaries.

Sure, this would be a PR disaster if it was implemented and became public knowledge. But this isn't anything retailers aren't already doing every day.