Hey Conscious Church Fam

The AI landscape is shifting dramatically right now. From potential data breaches to government partnerships, we're watching a technological revolution knock on our doors.

Let’s dive in…

In today's recap:

🔍 DeepSeek's meteoric rise and the fallout
🏛️ OpenAI's partnership with National Labs
✍️ New AI copyright guidelines for creators

💭 Josh’s Musings

I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about AI, creativity, and something deeper—what’s real.

We’re in a wild time. AI is moving fast. I mean, at this rate, it’s not hard to imagine a future where you sit down, give a prompt, and—boom—you’ve got a high-quality movie with you as the lead.

It’s not quite there yet, but it’s coming. And as AI gets more advanced, it’s going to shape the way we create, learn, and experience the world.

But here’s what I’m realising: the more artificial things become, the more people will crave what’s real.

We’ve had the whole metaverse phase. Avatars. Curated online lives. A world where we can tweak, edit, and perfect how we present ourselves.

But at the end of the day? People want the real thing.

Fresh air. Deep conversations. Genuine friendships. Something solid. Something lasting.

It’s happening in every part of life. Artificial food. Artificial intelligence. Artificial connection. Everything is being simulated, but nothing can replace what’s actually real.

And I think this is where we have an opportunity.

AI is a tool. A powerful one. And I truly believe it’s worth exploring—not because we need to become experts, but because understanding it will help us navigate where the world is going.

So here’s something practical: This week, take an hour—maybe on the weekend, maybe one evening—and just play around with AI.

Open up ChatGPT (or another tool you’ve been curious about).

Instead of just asking a random question, think bigger. What could this tool do for you?

Try setting a clear context before you ask something. ("You are my creative assistant, and I need help brainstorming a project.")

Test how your prompting changes the results. If you’re getting vague answers, refine your wording.

Ask follow-up questions.

Go deeper.

Watch a few YouTube videos, read up on how people are using AI strategically, and experiment.

Push the limits.

See how far you can take it.

Because here’s the thing: AI isn’t going away.

And the more familiar you become with it now, the more you’ll be able to harness it intentionally rather than just reacting to it.

But here’s what AI can’t do:

It can’t carry the Spirit of God. It can’t replace creativity that flows from a living, breathing soul. It can’t love. It can’t bring presence. It can’t be you.

That’s why who you are matters more than ever.

So my encouragement this week?

Stay curious.
Test things out.
Stretch your creativity.

But don’t lose sight of what’s real.

Because at the end of the day, it’s the real thing that people will be searching for.

LATEST NEWS

DEEPSEEK

🔍 DeepSeek Shakes Up the AI World, Sparking Investigations

Recap: DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, just launched their R1 model and the tech world is spinning.

Microsoft and OpenAI are in full investigation mode over potential unauthorised data access. The market? Nearly $1 trillion in AI-related stock value – gone. Even the U.S. Navy's stepped in, banning DeepSeek AI completely.

But here's the thing – their R1 model is impressive. Like, really impressive. TechCrunch is reporting it's crushing benchmarks in math and language tasks. (Especially considering the low cost to develop in comparison to others).

The Verge dropped something interesting though. OpenAI's found evidence that DeepSeek might have used some unauthorised methods to access training data.

Conscious Recap: Innovation can pop up anywhere. That's what's fascinating about this. We're often right in the middle of this tension – staying open to new ideas while protecting what matters (and not cutting corners). For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

OPEN AI

🏛️ OpenAI Teams Up with National Labs on Nuclear Security

Recap: OpenAI's not just playing in the commercial space anymore. They're partnering with U.S. National Labs on some seriously sensitive projects.

We're talking nuclear science, physics, and disease research. It's all about making government work smarter with AI-driven decisions.

Conscious Thoughts: Understanding AI isn't optional anymore if we want to engage with these big societal questions.

LEGISLATION

✍️ U.S. Copyright Office Sets Clear Rules on AI-Generated Works

Recap: The Copyright Office just made AI creativity rules crystal clear: If you're using AI as a tool to help your creative process? You're protected. Your original work stays yours, even with AI in the mix.

But here's the key – humans need to be actually creating, not just prompting. Writing a prompt alone isn't enough to claim copyright. And pure AI-generated content? That can't be copyrighted at all. Think of it this way:

Human creativity + AI assistance = Copyright protected ✅ Just typing prompts = Not enough for copyright ❌ Pure AI generation = No copyright protection ❌

They're basically saying we don't need new laws for this. The current ones work just fine when we think about it as human creativity being enhanced by AI, not replaced by it.

Conscious Thoughts: This feels like a balanced approach. For us, it opens up some interesting doors. How can we use AI to amplify our creativity while keeping that authentic, personal touch that's so crucial in our communication?

TRY THIS OUT

💬 Chat with your sermon…(or any other content)

This is a tool I’ve been playing with for a while now, and I love how practical it can be — especially for churches.

One of the best use cases? Turning a weekly sermon into fresh content—study guides, key quotes, discussion questions, and more.

The best setup: Have talk notes alongside a YouTube video (a live stream or recording). Upload them as ‘source material,’ and now you can actually chat with it.

Ask it to pull out key takeaways. Summarise the main theme. Generate questions to help you (or your group) dig deeper.

Give it a try here! I might put together a quick tutorial on how I use it soon.

🔗 Trending Tools

• 🎧 Spika.ai – Type a topic, let AI generate a podcast

• 👨🏻‍💼 JoggAI – Create lifelike, personalised AI avatars from text prompts

• 👁️ LumaLabs – Enhance any video made with DreamMachine up to 4k

Take a moment with God right now.
(Breathe in) God’s creativity flows through me
(Breathe Out) I release the pressure to ‘keep up’

See you soon,

Josh

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