Hey Conscious Church Fam

Another week, another whirlwind of AI developments. From Elon Musk making a bold move to reclaim OpenAI, to AI taking centre stage at the Super Bowl, things are moving fast.

In today's recap:

🚀 Musk’s $97B Power Move
🏈 AI at the Super Bowl
🎵 AI Writes Worship Songs?
🎨 Adobe’s New AI Video Tool
and more…

Let’s dive in 👇

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💭 Josh’s Musings

AI is overwhelming.

It’s exciting. Intimidating. Feels like magic—until you actually try to use it.

This week, I’ve been thinking about that. Listening to podcasts. Talking to pastors and business owners.

Some of you are just dipping a toe in. Others are deep in automation.

But here’s the thing—you already know AI can save you time. That’s not the issue.

The real questions?

How long will it take to figure out?
What’s actually worth using?
Where do I even start?

A pastor friend told me, “We need help. We’re leaving so much on the table.”

They’re creating content every week. But no system. No time. No head space.

I hear this a lot. What even is possible? Where do I begin?

You don’t know what you don’t know.

But once you see it—once someone sparks that idea—it clicks.

That’s why I’ve been thinking: What if there was a way to make this easier? A way to move from playing with AI to actually embedding it into workflows—without it becoming a full-time job.

I’m running some AI training soon for a sizable church in the States, helping them structure better prompts, build reusable systems, and integrate tools that fit their needs. And it got me wondering—could something like this be useful for more people? Not just bespoke training, but something scalable.

Because not everyone needs the same thing. Some of you are setting up custom instructions for the first time. Others want to build AI-powered workflows that run in the background.

So here’s my question: Where are you at?

If I could create something tangible and practical—something that actually helps—what would that be for you?

Because you don’t need to “learn AI.”

You just need to find one thing AI can help you with.

One task.
One shortcut.
One hour saved.

That’s where it starts.

More on that soon.

Josh

LATEST NEWS

ELON & OPEN AI

💰 Musk’s $97B Power Play for OpenAI

Recap: Elon Musk has made an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid to take back control of OpenAI’s nonprofit arm. With backing from xAI, Valor Equity Partners, and others, Musk claims he wants to restore OpenAI to its original open-source vision. Sam Altman dismissed the offer with a jab on X, jokingly offering to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion instead. The AI drama continues.

The Details:

• Musk has long criticised OpenAI’s shift from its original open-source mission to a highly commercialised product.

• His bid, backed by key investors, aimed to wrestle control from Sam Altman and the current board.

• Many see this as more than just a business move—it’s a battle over the very nature of AI development and access.

Conscious Take: Musk’s vision for an open AI future is fascinating, but does it still hold weight in a world where AI is becoming a tightly controlled asset? Openness vs. control—this tension isn't just about AI but about innovation, creativity, and who gets to shape the future.

SUPERBOWL

🏈 AI Takes the Super Bowl Stage

Recap: AI wasn’t just behind the scenes this year—it was front and centre during Super Bowl LIX. OpenAI, Google, Meta, and others rolled out high-budget AI commercials.

The Highlights:

• OpenAI’s first-ever ad: Positioned ChatGPT alongside world-changing inventions, signalling its role in shaping the future.

• Google’s Gemini Live ad: Showcased AI helping a dad juggle work and parenting, emphasising practical, everyday use cases.

• Meta’s AI-powered Ray-Bans: Featured Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt using voice-activated smart glasses, blending fashion and AI-powered tech.

Conscious Take: AI is no longer just a tool—it’s a brand, a movement, a cultural shift. As it becomes more embedded in everyday life, are we critically engaging with what’s being sold to us, or just accepting it as the inevitable next step?

SUNO AI

🎵 AI Can Now Write Worship Songs?

Suno is an AI music generator that lets users create original songs—lyrics, melody, and all. Just input a theme, style, and a few preferences, and it produces a fully composed track. No musical experience needed.

The Details:

• Suno uses AI to analyse styles, genres, and lyrical patterns to generate original compositions.

• It can mimic existing styles or create entirely new ones based on prompts.

• AI-generated music raises questions about creativity, authorship, and the role of human inspiration.

Conscious Take: I personally had a lot of fun with this over Christmas with the family. The paid plan allows the creations to be intellectually your property. We made theme tunes for the kids using things they like and our family values. It’s been amazing and they are still singing them now!

One of the really fun things was adding in lyrics to old carols (like O Come All Ye Faithful) and asking Suno to create a song in the style of (Old New Orleans Jazz etc) I could imagine some fun takes on old public domain hymns or carols.

Do I think it’s going to write our worship songs? No. Do I think this could be used as a tool in a songwriter/producer/creator’s arsenal YES. Even if just for podcast jingles/music for videos.

ADOBE

🎨 Adobe’s AI Video Tool: Safe for Creators

Recap: Adobe just launched Firefly Video, an AI-powered video generation tool that promises 100% IP-safe content. It generates 1080p videos from text and images and integrates seamlessly with Adobe’s suite.

The Details:

• Firefly Video offers AI-driven video creation while ensuring all generated content is legally cleared.

• It integrates with Premiere Pro and After Effects, streamlining the editing process.

• Adobe is betting big on responsible AI, pushing back against concerns of deepfakes and unethical content generation.

Conscious Take: This is big for ideating concepts or producing incredible videos without the need for an animator/film crew/lighting crew etc. It will be exciting to see how creators integrate this into workflows to create what is currently ‘stuck’ in their head.

CLAUDE AI

🧠 Anthropic’s Next AI Model – A Game Changer?

Recap: Anthropic is set to release a major upgrade to its Claude AI model, with advanced reasoning, better coding skills, and customisable power scaling. It apparently outperforms OpenAI’s o3-mini-high ‘reasoning’ model.

The Details:

• The new model will feature a hybrid approach, functioning as both a standard LLM and an advanced reasoning engine.

• Developers will be able to control how much reasoning power is allocated to each query.

• At maximum reasoning, the model excels in real-world programming tasks and large-scale codebase management.

• Rumours suggest Anthropic already has an internal model stronger than OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo but delayed its release due to safety concerns.

Conscious Take: I’m a huge Claude AI fan. It’s writing out of the box is beautiful and in my opinion way beyond ChatGPT or others. Which means you can give it less context and get great results.

🔗 Trending Tools

Disclosure: Occasionally links are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

• 🔬 Scisummary: This AI tool helps you quickly digest scientific articles with AI-generated summaries that highlight key takeaways.

• 🧠 Voice to Notion: This tool allows you to capture your thoughts, organise them, and get answers with your phone, using only your voice

• 📑 PDF Guru - Summarise PDFs quickly with AI-powered insights from long documents, making complex content quicker to review.

• 🎶 Beatoven AI - AI composer for crafting the perfect background music

The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. - Zephaniah 3:17

How have you been using AI this week?
And where are you at on your journey?

Just getting started..
You use chat gpt but no idea what it’s capable of..
Building your custom automations?..

I’d love to hear so I can tailor content accordingly.

Stay conscious,

Josh

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