What has the Church said about AI? A plain-language guide

Members ask this in practical forms. Can I use these tools in my calling? For my lesson? What did the Brethren actually say — and where? The teachings are scattered across devotionals, handbook updates, and press releases, so here is the record of what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has taught, in order, in plain language.

The thread that runs through everything (2018)

Years before any of this reached the public, the late President Russell M. Nelson taught: “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” Church leaders have returned to that sentence in nearly every address on this subject since — President Dallin H. Oaks reaffirmed it at BYU in February 2026. It is the frame for all of it: the question was never really about tools. It is about keeping the channel open.

March 2024 — the guiding principles

The Church published guiding principles for its own use of these tools, introduced to employees worldwide by Elder Gerrit W. Gong with Elder John C. Pingree of the Seventy. Four principles: spiritual connection — such tools should “support and not supplant connection between God and His children”; transparency — people “will understand when they are interfacing” with them; privacy and security — the Church’s use “will safeguard sacred and personal information”; accountability — measured, deliberate, regularly reviewed. Written for the Church workforce, and, as Elder Pingree noted, helpful for members navigating the same changes.

November 2024 — Elder Bednar

In “Things as They Really Are 2.0,” a worldwide devotional for young adults, Elder David A. Bednar stated both sides plainly. These tools carry real promise — advancing knowledge, improving quality of life, fostering creativity — and real peril: the potential to “obscure our true identity as sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father” and to “distort or replace meaningful human interaction.” Then the sentence that will outlast the decade: “No matter how sophisticated and elegant AI technology ultimately may become, it simply can never bear witness of the Father and the Son, reveal the truth of all things, or sanctify those who have repented and become baptized.”

December 2025 — the General Handbook

The counsel moved from devotionals into policy. A new General Handbook section — 38.8.47, on appropriate use — gives members principles rather than a rulebook. The sentences quoted most:

• “AI cannot replace the gift of divine inspiration or the individual work required to receive it.”
• “Interactions with AI cannot substitute for meaningful relationships with God and others.”
• “AI cannot replace the individual work and spiritual guidance required to prepare divinely inspired talks, lessons, prayers, or blessings.”

Alongside: use these tools responsibly and in uplifting ways; never create or share what is false, misleading, or harmful; verify output for accuracy; and keep sensitive information — Church records, member data, confidential communications — out of tools the Church does not manage.

February–March 2026 — President Oaks, Elder Cook

At BYU devotionals weeks apart, President Oaks counseled students facing this new era to strengthen faith, increase humility, seek help from others, and be patient; Elder Quentin L. Cook distilled the moment into six words: “Choose truth when deception is easy.”

June 2026 — Elder Gong’s series

Elder Gong released Faith, Dignity, and Human Flourishing: Hearing God’s Voice in an Age of AI — six short episodes on how these tools touch our relationships with God, self, others, and the natural world. It is the fullest treatment any Church leader has given the subject, and we wrote a complete guide to it.

What it adds up to

Notice what nobody said. Nobody said the tools are evil, or forbidden, or beneath a disciple’s attention — the Church uses them itself, carefully. The counsel of two years compresses into one sentence: tools may help; they must not substitute — not for inspiration, not for your own effort, not for people.

That sentence is also the standard we measure UNA against, line by line. The lines it holds are published at Where the AI stops.

UNA is an independent project — made by one member, for members — and is not built, reviewed, or endorsed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotes are from public teachings, shared with reverence; they are not endorsements. Handbook wording per Church News and Church Newsroom coverage; always check Gospel Library for the current text.