Overview
This AI Policy provides guidance for the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools by editors, writers, artists, graphic designers and all other contributors to Methodist Message (MM), a publication of The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS).
Our core rationale is based on the understanding that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28). In this space of Christian media, where our content is based on the Word, we believe our responsibility is to uphold our human dignity in producing this work, both in the manner it is produced and in the final product.
The objective of this policy is not to prevent the total usage of AI but to build guard rails around its use. It seeks to encourage the beneficial use of generative AI tools while maintaining biblical soundness, spiritual wisdom, accountability and respect for intellectual property. And in so doing, make clear our standards to both contributors and readers alike.
The use of technologies is spelt out in our Methodist Social Principles under the “Sphere of the Internet, Sciences and Technologies”. This may be found in The Book of Discipline of The Methodist Church in Singapore (BOD) under BOD ¶88.4 on the Use of other Technologies, including Artificial Intelligence.
“We affirm that all technology is a gift from God and may contribute to the well-being of all people and societies. However, we believe scientific and technological knowledge must be applied with spiritual wisdom if technology is not to be abused or to become a burden to society.”
It adds:
“The application of such scientific advances should be welcomed if they enhance the quality of life for the whole community, and not just for a privileged group of people. Advances in sciences must not be allowed to divide the community, devalue human dignity and identity as persons created and loved by God.”
In the same vein, MM’s AI policy should reflect that efficiency or perfection are not our ultimate goals. Rather, our AI policy should reflect our desire to be truthful, spiritually wise and cherish our human identity as children of God.
Human beings have a capacity for complex reasoning, deep analysis, ethical judgement, acting with empathy and sensitivity, as well as meaningful connection—all these are what make us human. As Christians, we should focus on developing these capabilities and not assign them to AI.
What we expect from our contributors
The MM editorial team and contributors consist of staff of MCS, volunteers and contributors within and outside of MCS. Collectively, we will refer to them as “contributors” in this section.
As a Christian magazine, MM seeks to point readers to God and his goodness, and not how wonderful or sophisticated an AI tool is in executing a prompt. We believe that our collective and individual work is an act of worship that must glorify God’s name. This is not something that can be done by a machine. We also believe that our contributors are strengthened by, and grow spiritually and intellectually, when we use our human effort to do the work given to us. By using AI to carry out every task, we are relinquishing opportunities for spiritual growth and sharpening of our God-given talents and skills. AI may assist human work, but it does not replace human responsibility, wisdom, discernment, accountability or spiritual leadership.
All contributors to MM must own and take responsibility for what they produce and submit for publication, either in print or online. All facts must be personally checked and verified for truth and biblical soundness and must not be in breach of intellectual property rights. In an era of fake news and widespread misinformation, the need for fact checking by human beings has never been greater. We want to build MM as a trusted publication of truth.
AI tools can be used as a sophisticated search engine, but contributors must personally verify texts and claims for truthfulness and biblical soundness and attribute sources correctly by clicking through to the source link or independently searching for information, before using them in their articles.
Contributors may also use AI to transcribe interviews, videos, or dictations of their own ideas. But they must read through the transcripts themselves and manually verify accuracy.
Contributors must not use AI to ideate, plan, outline, argue or write. Instead of committing prompts to AI to conduct tasks, we prefer writers to commit prayers to God and ask the Holy Spirit to guide them in their writing. AI is at best a tool, and not a substitute for the Holy Spirit or human endeavour. Contributors need to work on the article themselves, embrace the struggle of doing so and discern what God is prompting them to share rather than assigning that task to AI. We ask for our contributors to value their connection to God and know that this is what anchors their contribution to MM.
We acknowledge that MM relies on contributors with different standards of writing: our contributors include theologians, clergy, staff, church members and volunteers. MM’s editorial team will endeavour to maintain a good standard of writing in all the articles we publish. Our editorial team will use human effort to edit articles to a standard that we are proud to publish. The use of AI will be limited to spelling and grammar checks, and sparingly used to organise complex information. As a result of the emphasis on human effort, mistakes may creep in.
For graphics, illustrations and stock images, similar principles will apply. AI can be used to assist with research, but wholly AI-generated images should be avoided in general. We acknowledge that many LLMs are trained on copyrighted works used without permission and this itself presents an ethical quandary beyond our scope.
As AI technology and the nature of our content evolves, this policy may have to evolve as well. AI has become more prevalent in our lives, and we must examine carefully which part of our processes we are comfortable using as a tool, while other parts remain wholly human- led.
Summary
In sum, we will try to limit AI usage to assisting in research and refrain from using it for generative content. Purely AI-generated works are strongly discouraged. At every step, rigorous human oversight and accountability is required. AI may be used sparingly to check work or enhance original work, within reason. If it is used, MM will look into disclosure of AI usage beyond fair use stated above, in every submission to maintain transparency.
