The Value of an English Degree in the World of AI

An English Degree is Human-First

The English degree is more than content delivery and literary analysis. Your studies traverse literature, rhetoric, and human expression, changing the way you think about our four fundamental relationships as described by Elder Gerrit W. Gong: Thou, I, They, and It. He defines these four vital relationships as follows:

Thou is the relationship between you and your God.

I is the relationship between you and yourself.

They is the relationship between you and your fellow people.

It is the relationship between you and your environment.

According to Elder Gong, world-changing technology, such as artificial intelligence, has profound implications for our four relationships and risks dehumanizing them.

English majors are immersed in these four relationships, and they have a distinct advantage; they are aware of another fifth relationship: What.

What is the relationship between you and what you read and write.

The fifth relationship allows English majors to thoughtfully, mindfully, and conscientiously learn about, maintain, and protect the first four relationships.

Inappropriate use of artificial intelligence can undermine human relationships, but the English degree has the antidote. They can use their fifth relationship to focus on meaning, creativity, and inquiry, which is important for both individual and collective enrichment. The English degree is human-first; AI-last.

Questions, Concerns, and Answers

As an English major, you see how artificial intelligence influences reading and writing. In your studies, you are enriched and educated, prepared for a world heading towards AI integration.

It will be important to use your English degree to help yourself and others understand both what can be gained and what can be lost in the world of Artificial Intelligence.

What Is AI?

As machines, AI models, specifically LLMs, are meant to enable human-computer interaction through the collection, synthesize, and pattern recognition of language.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): Defined by Britannica as "the ability of a digital computer... to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings." Wikipedia's 2026 article on AI explains these intelligent tasks include "learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making."

Large Language Models (LLM): The underlying system that allows AI to function. An LLM is an AI model built to resemble human thinking and reasoning, trained with millions of texts.

Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT): A type of LLM that is used to build generative artificial intelligence chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

AI Concerns

The impact of the extent, development, and deployment of Generative AI tools is not completely understood. Across legal, ethical, and technological schools of thought, there is room for improvement and growth.

The current consensus is that while Artificial Intelligence is generally faster, it also supplants development and degrades quality.

Others are skeptical of LLMs, pointing out the environmental impact, job displacement, and ethics of harvesting data. Furthermore, the underlying mechanics of AI make it susceptible to sycophancy, hallucination, and even induce psychosis for its users.

AI Solutions

Guiding Principles

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has issued guiding principles that govern how AI should and shouldn't be used. Elder Bednar encourages all members to review these principles and apply them to their own lives:

Spiritual Connection
Transparency
Privacy and Security
Accountability

The Pro-Human AI Declaration

The Pro-Human AI Declaration (2026) is a document created and supported by over one hundred organizations that value "the human experiences of childhood and family, faith, and community." They have outlined thirty-three tenets for governing the influence of AI in human lives.

Even if these principles aren't yet reflected in law or policy, you can still use them to make sure AI serves you, rather than you serving AI. Here are the five overarching principles of The Pro-Human AI Declaration:

Keeping Humans in Charge
Avoiding Concentration of Power
Protecting the Human Experience
Human Agency and Liberty
Responsibility and Accountability for AI Companies

Brave New World

In the era of technological advancement, artificial intelligence, where education skews towards industry rather than enrichment, sometimes it seems like human-written work is being left behind.

Whatever role AI plays in society, it should not be used to supplant, replace, or alter our relationships of Thou, I, They, It, and What. The English degree, along with other arts and humanities degrees, is a cornerstone of putting humanity first.

"AI appropriately can assist in gathering information, critiquing our thinking, evaluating our writing style, and accelerating an iterative process of learning... But the divine capacities to create and work belong uniquely to each of us" (Elder David A. Bednar, Things as they Really Are 2.0, 2024).