Let’s Talk about AI and its place in funerals and weddings:

My personal opinion might be a bit spicy here… I’m concerned about the number of celebrants openly admitting to the extent at which they use AI.

I feel this way because AI tools (like Chat GPT) have a very monotonous tone and style of writing that is deeply impersonal and highly repetitive. You may be jumping to tell me “but Grace! It’s all about the prompts!”
But anyone who’s spent time on chatGPT will be able to notice the repetitive signs of when AI has had a hand in the writing (sad for all of us humans who have had to retire the use em dash for fear of it now looking AI!).

So, my personal opinion is that it is a helpful guidance tool for people struggling to write, but I believe that AI (if used) should be but a starting point or tool for inspiration, and not used in place of people’s own personal thoughts. What I mean is, it requires A LOT of editing. 

For some people, this may not be an issue at all! And that’s fine, particularly if it helps ease the eulogy / vow writing process which is most often described as the hardest part of the funeral / wedding process alike. If you’re not a writer and it genuinely assists you to do better work and create something that you’re proud of, then that’s a wonderful thing!

But for celebrants, I am personally against the consistent reliance on AI writing tools like Chat GPT.
If all celebrants started depending on AI alone to write our services, eulogies, and ceremonies then the diversity of what we’re able to deliver starts to shrink. We’ll all start talking vaguely about people’s “quiet strength” and “quiet grace” at every funeral or wedding, whether they had these traits or not. I also think celebrants using AI to do all their writing are making themselves redundant. If we all sound the same, what’s stopping people just having a bot write their script and a friend deliver it for them on the day? Heavily using AI cheapens our industry and devalues our skills as celebrants which of course goes well beyond just writing and delivering scripts!!

When I’ve experimented with AI, I can feel it dumbing me down, and I ended up feeling dirty, like I was devaluing and discrediting my own skills and ability. One of the wonderful things about having a range of celebrants available to you is knowing there is a celebrant out there with a particular style and tone to suit the variety of families and couples that require our services. If we all lean on AI to make our jobs easier, then the quality and diversity of what we offer will become very one-note.

I fell in love with Celebrancy precisely because I have a love of writing (always have), and I take huge pride in putting together services and ceremonies which feel personal. The biggest compliment I receive after a service or ceremony is when people ask me if I am part of the family - that’s a job I feel I’ve done well. I haven’t yet seen AI deliver the diversity of tone and vocabulary that I feel is necessary to achieve that sense of intimacy.

The biggest sting to my heart is when a piece of work I’ve poured hours of time and consideration into is questioned as being a product of AI, purely because it’s good work. So let me say now, no, it is not. Writing is in both my maternal and paternal genes and the whole reason I started this career. My Dad’s Dad was an English academic and my Mum’s Mum is the most gifted and creative storyteller I know (I wish I had even a quarter of her raw talent). She is the inspiration I draw from when I write personalised poems, not AI. And yet, I’ve considered retiring these personalised poems I’ve been writing for funeral services purely for fear of being accused of using AI instead of my own brain. I’m also concerned about the potential for plagiarism, by taking what one celebrants says and getting Chat GPT to reword it for you to then claim as your own. This is why when I send drafts scripts for weddings now, I say that any edits cannot sound like Chat GPT - because I care about my brand integrity.

The extent of my use of AI is getting it to type out pieces that I receive handwritten or in jpg format - for this, I am so very grateful to AI. It has saved me HOURS of my life which would have been spent just typing and not being creative. It has also been helpful when I’m trying to generate a certain idea, or refine a phrase that I feel is particularly clunky. In those times, AI feels like a helpful colleague assisting me in my office, not an intern who hides behind me while I take credit for their hard work.

So, my verdict - AI is a great personal tool; but when it comes to a profession that relies so heavily on writing, as Celebrancy does, I really do fear (and honestly, feel threatened) by the increasing prevalence of AI in my industry. I only hope that in time, an audience will recognise the difference in the warmth of writing by humans compared to the cool tones of a robot, and that they will continue to see value in that. I’m optimistic that genuine creativity isn’t yet replaceable.

My goal has always been to become one of the best celebrants in Adelaide, and while there’s much more to it than just the skill of writing, I just don’t think I will ever achieve that goal by using a generic robot to do my work for me.