Author and pastor John Piper read a remarkably well-crafted prayer penned by artificial intelligence during a conference sermon this week, then asked the audience to consider: Is it true biblical praise?

The founder of Desiring God made the comments while addressing The Gospel Coalition’s TGC25 conference in Indianapolis as he preached from Ephesians 1.

“We exist and will always exist to the praise” of God, Piper said, before posing a question: What is praise?

“It is not mere words,” he said, citing Jesus’s remarks in Matthew 15:8-9, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.”

To laughter, Piper said he asked ChatGPT to compose a prayer.

“I typed in, ‘Please compose a 30-second prayer to God, in the Spirit and theology of Don Carson, in praise to the glory of God's grace.’”

A few seconds later, Piper said, the website returned this prayer: “Gracious Father, we bow before you, the Sovereign Lord of history and redemption. From eternity past, you purposed to lavish grace upon undeserving sinners through the blood of your beloved Son. We praise you for the glory of your Mercy, unearned, unmeasured, made manifest in Christ, crucified and risen. May our lives, redeemed and sanctified by your Spirit, be vessels of praise to the riches of Your grace to you. Be glory, forever and ever. Amen.”

As Piper concluded reading the prayer, a chorus of “amens” rippled through the congregation.

“That's a machine,” he said to laughter.

Piper then asked, “Is that praise?”

“No!” he concluded, praise must come from the heart.

“Let's clarify the purpose of the universe. … Let's clarify: Why were you made? Computers do words better than you – seriously, better than me. … [But] they don't feel anything. Therefore, the universe is created to have people who feel. This is amazing. Think of it: The universe exists to have people in God's image who feel the worth of grace, who feel the glory of grace, who feel the beauty of grace, who feel the wonder of grace – and then everything in their life takes on a totally non-AI meaning of action and praise to God.”

In closing, Piper offered a pastoral charge.

“If your heart does not sing, [if it] does not feel the beauty of the freedom of the grace of God in saving – you give yourself no rest until that is your portion,” he said. “You were made to praise – that is, you were made to feel the preciousness of grace, and to speak it and to show it.”

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