I am working on a piece about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the church. As part of my research, I decided to see how machine learning and advanced language models would do with writing hymns. You can decide for yourself.
For this experiment, I used the latest version of ChatGPT. I took me a few tries to get the query right. It got better when my wife Karen, who happens to be a church musician, joined in. Here is the query I used:
write a hymn for mother’s day and set it to “the gift of love”
If you don’t know the tune, you can hear a version “The Gift of Love” here.
1. A mother’s love is like a light, That shines so bright in darkest night, A gift of love so pure and true, That always keeps us close to you.
2. Thank you, Lord, for mothers dear, Whose love and care dispel our fear, We lift our voices high to say, We thank you for each blessed day.
3. A mother’s touch is like a balm, That heals our wounds and keeps us calm, A touch that tells us we’re not alone, And leads us to your heavenly throne.
4. Thank you, Lord, for mothers dear, Whose love and care dispel our fear, We lift our voices high to say, We thank you for each blessed day.
5. A mother’s heart is like a song, That fills our lives our whole life long, A song of joy and sweet embrace, That echoes in each sacred space.
6. Thank you, Lord, for mothers dear, Whose love and care dispel our fear, We lift our voices high to say, We thank you for each blessed day.
7. So on this day we give you praise, For all the love and grace you raise, We thank you for the gift of life, And for the strength to face each strife.
8. Thank you, Lord, for mothers dear, Whose love and care dispel our fear, We lift our voices high to say, We thank you for each blessed day.
Tune: “The Gift of Love” (also known as “Though I May Speak”)
Is this a great hymn? Probably not. Is it better than what I can write? Indeed. Is this all a little frightening? For sure.