By George Gilbey, Catholic Herald.
Coca-Cola’s Christmas advert this year, criticised as “soulless”, has been created through generative AI. This may still feel novel but the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has found 90 per cent of advertisers plan to use AI tools to create their marketing videos by 2026.
This isn’t limited to one industry. In a recent programme “Will AI take my job?”, Channel 4 revealed that three-quarters of UK bosses have replaced human workers with AI across medicine, law and journalism. The programme highlighted the impact also on creative industries where support teams (light, make up, set design) all became unnecessary. The show itself was the first to be entirely presented by an AI host.
As the Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat raised in September, AI has been re-shaping parliamentary discourse too; and likely in time could shape legislation itself. Tugendhat referenced research that showed the use of certain phrases such as “I rise to speak” (650+ times now this year) and “delighted to announce” has spiked to record highs.
Also words like “streamline” and “unlock” have been reaching statistically unlikely heights since the advent of ChatGPT in 2022. This represents a subtle but profound narrowing of the choices of language and grammar used by those whose words and arguments shape our political life. To what extent it also generates the rationale and decision making of our times is not yet fully understood.
AI will be quietly entering the life of the Church too, from bidding prayers to homilies. In 2024, a survey of 660 US churches across more than 20 denominations found 87 per cent of church leaders were in favour of AI, with 66 per cent using it regularly and 13 per cent using it daily.