Date: July 7, 2025
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is an emerging tool that is prompting necessary discussion about its uses and limitations in both academic and ecclesial settings. I want to clarify how I utilize (or do not utilize) AI when creating content for Gay Thoughts.
I DO NOT use AI to generate content. My posts are entirely my own from start to finish–with all their moments of creativity, incoherence, glorious contradictions, spontaneity, slips, insight, and whatever else that makes them interesting and worth reading. If I ever do use AI to help craft derivative content, I will disclose it. For example, in my post titled “Against (Virtually) Normal,” I cite AI as the source of the illustrative art. If AI is ever a source of information, I will always cite it.
I DO use AI to check for spelling and grammatical errors in my writing, primarily with Grammarly. Occasionally, I accept suggestions for whole sentence rewrites. These changes are always grammatical rather than substantive.
I DO use AI for editorial feedback. While I use it for this purpose less often than I do Grammarly, I occasionally submit my essays to the writing GPT within ChatGPT’s paid services. It helps assess whether my thesis is clear and if my argument flows well.
At the time of writing this disclosure, I am not in a teaching position, whether in academia or the church. Therefore, I do not face the same challenges with AI as some of my colleagues and their students.
I believe professors, students, and pastors are best advised to avoid using AI for significant writing tasks, such as sermons.
Rather than dwelling on the theoretical reasons for my view about AI and writing, I encourage writers of all kinds to pay attention to how they feel while writing. Try writing in your underwear or naked.
I also ask writers to track how their perspectives evolve as they write. How does your reading of a text change or deepen as you write about it? Did your writing reveal what you think about a topic? Was it the same as before you started typing?
AI is a fun(ny) and powerful research tool or, if you prefer, “companion.” However, if we let it do our important work, we risk becoming numb to our (gay) thoughts and deluding ourselves into believing everything projected on the screen.
Your voice matters.
You’ll discover it when you write.
We’ll connect with it when we read what you write.
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