By The Free Press | Created at 2026-09-17 21:32:16 | Updated at 2026-09-17 22:27:27
59 minutes ago
My head was bowed in prayer when I heard something strange coming from the pulpit.
A friend of mine was standing in front of our church’s congregation of 200 people, praying over the day’s offerings. His words bore the marks of AI writing that made me wince: “It’s not X—it’s Y” and a conspicuous preference for lists of three.
After the service, I confronted my friend. Immediately, he admitted the prayer had been written by AI. “I just asked Chat to write me a short offertory prayer,” he told me sheepishly. In my Presbyterian church, it’s customary for congregants like my friend to stand at the pulpit and give the call to worship or the offertory prayer. He was a nervous public speaker, he said, and AI writes well enough.
Since then, I’ve started to question whether other prayers I’ve heard have been written with the help of, well, a higher power.
Continue Reading The Free Press
To support our journalism, and unlock all of our investigative stories and provocative commentary about the world as it actually is, subscribe below.
Annual
$8.33/month
Billed as $100 yearly
Monthly
$10/month
Billed as $10 monthly
Already have an account?
Sign In
