Da’wah Methods Need to Change as Artificial Intelligence Becomes a Threat to Religious Authority

MUHAMMADIYAH.OR.ID, JAKARTA – Seeing the tendency of today’s generation of children closely related to social and digital media, the Vice Chairman of the Muhammadiyah Council for Library and Information Council Ismail Fahmi said that they learn Islam and meet those who are anti-Islam.

Ismail, who is also the Founder of Drone Emprit, said that their interaction with those who are anti-Islam or anti-religion has made this millennial generation consider religion unimportant.

Learning from this tendency, Ismail Fahmi suggested that methods of da’wah should be adjusted to suit the needs. “The communication style and the way of seeking information are essential foundation to change our da’wah methods,” said Ismail at the Pesantren Digital on ‘Digital Da’wah Strategy’ conducted by the Council for Telkomsel Taqwa on Monday (27/3).

The rapid development of digital technology has impacted the authority of religion that has long been considered authoritative. People no longer ask those in authority for their religious knowledge. They obtained the information from artificial intelligence (AI) which is increasingly accessible.

This artificial intelligence indirectly becomes a threat as it often reduces knowledge about religion. Digital media are fruitful, but information there alsp consists of false information and hoaxes.

Ismail Fahmi said that information on social media constructed in artificial intelligence can become a weapon that will attack Indonesian younger generation. It doesn’t attack physically, but it attacks their thoughts and mentality.

“The da’wah targets are our children (millennial, gen Z, and post-gen Z generations),” said Ismail Fahmi.

When the da’wah targets are determined, the da’wah methods, including the pattern, model, style, and message, must be adjusted to the tendencies of the millennial, gen Z, and post-gen Z generations.

Negative impacts arise when AI used in various social media platforms only pursues profit by providing content that contains hostility, division, and false information, without regard for humanity.

“Behind AI, there is optimization. What is optimized is an economic attention or a monetized attention,” Ismail said.

The attention that can be monetized is in the form of likes and discussions – comments. Content or information that creates controversy is in line with the rise of attention that can be monetized.