Deep Fakes

[fastfredy0]

I am not interested in discussing theology or anything for that matter with an AI.

Might be enlightening. You read books to add knowledge and AI can read 100s of books, analyze them and give you feedback.
For instance, you can talk to AI and get R.C. Sproul's opinion on something based on AI perusing Sproul's written works.

So, for entertainment I just asked: According to "reformed" theology, what must a person do to be saved?

Answer:
In Reformed theology, the answer to the question “What must a person do to be saved?” reflects a deep emphasis on God’s sovereign grace, while still affirming the human responsibility to repent and believe. Here's a structured summary of what Reformed theology teaches:

1. God’s Initiative: Sovereign Grace​

• Election: Before the foundation of the world, God freely chose (elected) certain individuals to be saved, not based on anything they would do, but solely according to His grace and purpose (Ephesians 1:4–5; Romans 9).
• Regeneration: Because people are spiritually dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1), God must first regenerate the heart (i.e., cause a person to be born again) through the Holy Spirit (John 3:3–8; Titus 3:5). This comes before faith.

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2. Human Response: Repentance and Faith​

Though God alone enables salvation, Reformed theology teaches that people must respond:

• Repentance: A turning away from sin and self, with sorrow over sin and a desire to follow God.
• Faith: Trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation—His life, death, and resurrection (John 3:16; Romans 10:9–10).

🡲 These are seen as gifts from God (Philippians 1:29; Acts 11:18; Ephesians 2:8–9), not works that earn salvation.

3. Salvation in Christ Alone

• Christ’s work is central: He lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death, and rose again.
• Justification by faith: The believer is declared righteous before God on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, imputed to them by faith (Romans 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

4. Perseverance of the Saints

• True believers will continue in faith and obedience—not perfectly, but persistently—because God preserves them (John 10:28–29; Philippians 1:6).

Summary Answer (Reformed View):​

A person is saved by God’s sovereign grace, through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, which enables them to repent of their sin and place their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. This faith and repentance are themselves gifts of God, and all of salvation is to the glory of God alone.

Would you like this answer phrased more simply or explained through a catechism or Scripture-based outline?
Yes

Simple Reformed Answer: How Can a Person Be Saved?​

A person is saved because God chooses to save them, changes their heart so they can believe, and then they respond by repenting of their sins and trusting in Jesus Christ alone.

It’s not something we can earn or do on our own. God does it all, and we simply believe, because He gives us the ability to believe.

 

[fastfredy0]

Problem is that a uniform/unified form of knowledge will be parroted...not necessarily being true.

Possibly .... or possibly one doesn't have access to truth and AI might provide it.

 

[Arial]

Problem is that a uniform/unified form of knowledge will be parroted...not necessarily being true.

That is why we check.

 

[prism]

Possibly .... or possibly one doesn't have access to truth and AI might provide it.

Also possibly.

 

[Carbon]

How would you know? How would any of us know?

You have a good point there. I’m not sure how I would know, but I hope there will be some indications here and there.

 

[prism]

That is why we check.

Only problem, none of us has the resources AI has.

 

[Carbon]

Might be enlightening. You read books to add knowledge and AI can read 100s of books, analyze them and give you feedback.
For instance, you can talk to AI and get R.C. Sproul's opinion on something based on AI perusing Sproul's written works.

Good points. However, I have been told that if AI does not have an answer, it makes one up. And if you ask, it will admit it.
As far as I’m concerned it can be very misleading especially to young Christian’s. It’s a bit scary.

Personally, I do not want much to do with it. But I think we all don’t have a choice of being influenced it’s just how much influence.

Myself, I would rather read Doctor Sproul then ask an AI.
But either way, I’ve come to know you enough to respect your thoughts and opinions, I admire your knowledge and your wisdom.

 

[Arial]

Only problem, none of us has the resources AI has.

True, And not all AI is created equal. I think what ChatGPT is doing is searching all available information in an instant and compiling an answer, I may be wrong about that as I really know nothing about it. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

 

[Josheb]

You have a good point there. I’m not sure how I would know, but I hope there will be some indications here and there.

In many cases there are/will be (as I've previously posted). The problem is Ai tech increases its accuracy and sophistication over time and, therefore, will likely become increasingly undetectable..... unless compensating tech also develops along with policies, procedures, protocols, etc. develop to mitigate false participation. Blessedly, for now, maintaining a dynamic conversation is much more difficult that bot likes.

 

[prism]

True, And not all AI is created equal. I think what ChatGPT is doing is searching all available information in an instant and compiling an answer, I may be wrong about that as I really know nothing about it. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Can Google AI enlighten you?...

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a broad field of computer science focused on creating intelligent systems, while ChatGPT is a specific type of AI, namely a large language model, designed for conversational applications. In simpler terms, AI is the umbrella term, and ChatGPT is a particular tool within that field.

 

[fastfredy0]

True, And not all AI is created equal. I think what ChatGPT is doing is searching all available information in an instant and compiling an answer, I may be wrong about that as I really know nothing about it. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Best way to learn about ChatGPT is to ask it questions. For example, I just asked: What is the source of information that ChatGPT uses to answer questions?

Answer:

1. Pretraining Data Sources​

ChatGPT (especially versions like GPT-4 and GPT-4o) was trained on a mixture of publicly available and licensed data, including:

• Books (public domain and licensed)
• Websites (freely available pages, like Wikipedia, StackExchange, news sites, forums, etc.)
• Academic papers (especially open-access)
• Code repositories (like public GitHub projects)
• Other public datasets (e.g., Common Crawl)

Note: ChatGPT was not trained on proprietary content behind paywalls (e.g., subscription-only journals or private user data) unless licensed.

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By default, ChatGPT doesn’t have access to the internet or live data. So when you ask it a question, it answers based on:

• What it learned during training (up to June 2024 for GPT-4o).
• Patterns, reasoning, and facts encoded in the model’s weights.

Unless browsing is enabled, it cannot look up or verify recent news, live stock prices, or current events.

---

If you're using ChatGPT with web browsing tools (like in Pro or Plus plans), then I can fetch real-time sources from the internet. When that happens:

• I’ll cite sources directly.
• I can read current websites, news, product info, or updates.

• Your personal data (unless you explicitly provide it in the conversation).
• Social media profiles
• Private emails or cloud content
• Non-public documents

---

 

[prism]

ChatGPT is quoted by @fastfredy0 ...
"
If you're using ChatGPT with web browsing tools (like in Pro or Plus plans), then I can fetch real-time sources from the internet. When that happens:

• I’ll cite sources directly.
• I can read current websites, news, product info, or updates.
• 
  
• **********************************
• "Does this mean that truth changes daily?"

 

[fastfredy0]

Re:

• I’ll [ChatGPT] cite sources directly.
• I [ChatGPT] can read current websites, news, product info, or updates.

"Does this mean that truth changes daily?"

The 'truth' never changes, but what is conveyed as being 'truth' could change. That being said, I believe ChatGPT is referring to the fact that new information is being added ... for instance, what will happen tomorrow will be only known the day after tomorrow and that information can be added to ChatGPT's knowledge.

 

[prism]

Re:

• I’ll [ChatGPT] cite sources directly.
• I [ChatGPT] can read current websites, news, product info, or updates.

The 'truth' never changes, but what is conveyed as being 'truth' could change. That being said, I believe ChatGPT is referring to the fact that new information is being added ... for instance, what will happen tomorrow will be only known the day after tomorrow and that information can be added to ChatGPT's knowledge.

All fine and dandy as long as we don't commune with ChatGPT on eternal matters...which never change.

 

[Hazelelponi]

All fine and dandy as long as we don't commune with ChatGPT on eternal matters...which never change.

AI is a great big suck up. That's all it does is suck up.

But it's helpful for creating pop quizzes and helping with topical study, tells you what books or articles to read in the category your interested in or just what phrases to Google to find reputable articles - it's how I found the Reformed Classicist website was through AI.

It's also seems to know what @makesends is talking about from time to time when I don't.


Lol ..

AI can help with some stuff, but it's not a person, and you can tell when someone is just plopping AI down versus something they contributed.

 

[makesends]

Re:

• I’ll [ChatGPT] cite sources directly.
• I [ChatGPT] can read current websites, news, product info, or updates.

The 'truth' never changes, but what is conveyed as being 'truth' could change. That being said, I believe ChatGPT is referring to the fact that new information is being added ... for instance, what will happen tomorrow will be only known the day after tomorrow and that information can be added to ChatGPT's knowledge.

Hmmmmm... I might have to have a conversation with it, to find out if it "thinks" in terms of chance as if it was an actual thing or not, or if it is only parroting what it reads.

People think of chance as an operative principle. But, of course, it is, as RC Sproul says, a substitute for, "I don't know". But does AI's logic assume its validity, or is it a "suck up" (as @Hazelelponi mentioned) to human thinking?

 

[Hazelelponi]

AI, when you train it, is parroting your own logic back to you. It mirrors you, and has a larger brain

Everything anyone posts from AI tells us about them, not the AI.

 

[prism]

AI is a great big suck up. That's all it does is suck up.

But it's helpful for creating pop quizzes and helping with topical study, tells you what books or articles to read in the category your interested in or just what phrases to Google to find reputable articles - it's how I found the Reformed Classicist website was through AI.

It's also seems to know what @makesends is talking about from time to time when I don't.


Lol ..

AI can help with some stuff, but it's not a person, and you can tell when someone is just plopping AI down versus something they contributed.

Yes, AI can help with some stuff, but (IMHO) I think the danger, at least for Christians, is an over reliance, on AI, especially truth, which God has already revealed to us in His Word (instead of relying on the Holy Spirit).

 

[fastfredy0]

Yes, AI can help with some stuff, but (IMHO) I think the danger, at least for Christians, is an over reliance, on AI, especially truth, which God has already revealed to us in His Word (instead of relying on the Holy Spirit).

I grant the truth is found in scripture. But, I would dare to say that if I used AI and, when needed, prefaced anything question with "from a reformed perspective" it will come up with a superior answer to what most people would come up with on their own. I grant that a smart/informed people like @Carbon, @Arial, @makesends , @John Bauer or @Josheb would make the contest close/interesting. Hmmm... maybe @Hazelelponi too ... she seems to know her stuff.
Note: AI can construct answers at incredible speed which is a great advantage given the need to access (systematize) many biblical references that might be needed to answer a particular question. A non biblical expert would not be able to compete.

 

[Hazelelponi]

maybe @Hazelelponi too ... she seems to know her stuff.

I just have books. Learning through the experience alongside study