WORSHIP LEADERS
ED SHEERAN & THE MISUSE OF AI | Grant Norsworthy
Photo by Kyle Smith on Unsplash
“ Have you seen this song on YouTube? Ed Sheeran has become a Christian and has released a worship song!”
I received this message from a Facebook friend last year. I was sceptical, but curious enough to click the included link. It led me to a video that was definitely not a new release from the globally successful English singer‐songwriter Ed Sheeran. Instead, it was a song and video generated using AI( Artificial Intelligence) to look and sound like it was.
It’ s been a while since I watched it, but I remember thinking the vocal performance sounded remarkably like Ed. The recording mirrored the style and production of some of his other releases. The video itself was a collage of images depicting Ed’ s likeness reading a Bible, raising his hands, closing his eyes prayerfully, standing before a stained‐glass window, gently playing his guitar, and so on. Each shot looked polished enough, but they were repeated over and over and- at least to my eye- something felt off.
I don’ t recall much about the song itself. It had a pleasant melody and a very clean mix. The lyrics were overtly“ Christian,” but to me they came across as a string of Christian‐ese clichés- the kind of words AI might assume Christians want to hear.
I didn’ t click like, leave a comment, or subscribe.
I’ m not going to share the link here. You can search it out if you want. I’ m not even sure which of the many similar videos currently on YouTube it was. A quick Google search I did just now shows there are quite a few AI‐generated“ worship songs” attributed to“ Ed Sheeran,” along with similar creations mimicking other extremely popular artists.
From what I remember, the video description expressed a desire to give glory to God and draw people into a relationship with Jesus. Maybe it’ s doing that. Maybe it’ s not. I honestly don’ t know. God moves in mysterious ways. But while I assume whoever created it meant well, the song and video left me feeling- well- sad.
30 January 2026 Subscribe for Free...