Can AI move someone to worship God?

A few months ago, my friend Erik and I began discussing the ethics of AI and it’s inevitable impact on the world. Would it change society in a way only paralleled by the industrial revolution? Or would it just be a flash in the pan, only to remembered by a select few?

I was in the dissenting camp, extolling the virtues of craftsmanship—of rolling up your sleeves and doing the work that only humans can do.

But then, somewhat on a whim, I discovered that you could use AI tools to do more than just replace Google as your search engine of choice. You could use it to generate music. To ideate quickly, and in ways that could bring your vision to life faster than you could type a prompt.

I decided to continue my experiment, and I was hooked.

Kavodah album imagery from “You Are My Shepherd.” (AI Image: Kavodah)

Over the next few months, I resurrected my teenage love of writing poetry and songs. Of channeling my buried inner creative to craft lyrics and generate music that could move someone. Could it be done?

Could it be that the long neglected creative writings of an adolescent boy could be transformed into some worth listening to?

Could I take these ideas a step further to generate new and creative ways to impart the emotion of the psalms. To reimagine ancient songs written thousands of years ago and make them accessible to a new generation of people searching for something that connected with their struggles and pain?

Out of this vision emerged an album. Of which, here’s the first single. I’ll let you be the judge of whether or not it was successful:

And so Kavodah was born.

It comes from an amalgamation of the Hebrew words Kavod + Avodah. Kavod (כָּבוֹד) carries the idea of weightiness, of glory and honor. While Avodah (עֲבֹדָה) signifies work, worship, and service. Combined, the vision was to create music that worships our Father in soul & spirit.

We craft lyrics that move your heart and produce a blend of modern music, from soulful electronic music that makes you want to dance, to acoustic folk melodies that worship the King and everything in between.

While the original intent was to focus on reimagining the Psalms, I took a small detour, as one can do with AI, and ended up with a full album of 12 original songs. They’re decidedly electronic, but soulful—reminiscent of Avicii and other EDM style bands I was fond of in decades past. But equally rooted in the ancient words of the Bible.

The first single comes from Psalm 23, titled “You Are My Shepherd.” and is currently available on all streaming platforms.

Soon I’ll release two more singles: “Give Us This Day (Our Father In Heaven)” along with “Shalom Aleichem (Peace Be With You)”

The full album, titled “Shadowland: Songs from the Valley,” is planned to release in September.

If you’d like to follow along with this journey, follow me on Spotify or your preferred music service, and definitely subscribe to the Kavodah YouTube channel for sneak peaks and unreleased music.

Can AI move someone to worship?
I’d love to heard your thoughts in comments.

Shalom!

Listen to the full song here: