In depth | Evangelicals Now

How can the AI revolution help Christians?

Duncan Williams

More than 500 years before books became cheap and widely available, a German craftsman developed a technology that transformed how information could be produced and shared.

Johann Gutenberg's printing press, developed in the mid-15th century, is widely regarded as one of the most important technological developments in European history. Its impact was particularly significant because one of the earliest and most influential books produced using the new technology was the Bible.

Woman finds faith through Chat-GPT

Lydia Houghton

A young woman has come to faith in Jesus after consulting artificial intelligence (AI) with questions about assurance.

Alisha^* wanted to find out what different religions had to say about assurance, reports the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). She was in a “difficult patch” and turned to AI chatbot, ChatGPT.

How should AI be used?

Peter Lynas

I like Artificial Intelligence (AI). I use it most days, and it has already proved itself a remarkably useful tool. But I also have concerns.

I used to be a lawyer, and it seems obvious to me that AI will make a good junior lawyer. It can review documents, analyse contracts, summarise case law, and draft a first version of a legal argument at astonishing speed. What's far less obvious is how anyone becomes a senior lawyer in a world where AI does most of the junior work.

AI takeover: What do Christians make of the threat?

Milla Ling-Davies

Can artificial intelligence (AI) bring humanity to an end? What once sounded like science fiction is now a serious question being debated by leading AI researchers, politicians and scientists. And now, Christians are beginning to weigh in.

In early September, warnings about the development of AI superintelligence exploded into the public consciousness after a top AI researcher at Anthropic (the company developing AI language model Claude) claimed that there was a greater than ten per cent chance that AI could kill all humans within the next decade. This came after a swarm of AI agents launched an unauthorised attack on an AI development platform called Hugging Face in July.

culture watch

Ann Droid: A comedy, but profound

Rebecca Chapman

Britain now has a Minister for Artificial Intelligence. Kanishka Narayan became minister for AI when Andy Burnham created the role in his new Cabinet.

Narayan has warned that “people are right to worry” about the impact of technological change, but that he was “going to work every hour, every day to try to make sure it goes right”. Meanwhile, our new Prime Minister has himself promised to fix adult social care. If you put these two issues together, you get the BBC’s new surprisingly moving six-part comedy drama Ann Droid. At a time of polarising political views that can feel like they lack nuance, this is a show that provokes laughter, and tears, that will make you ask questions about AI’s value as well as its risks, and what it means to be human.

Is Artificial Intelligence a 'resounding gong'?

John-Edward Funnell

Some of my most precious times as a father are when I get to share cultural moments that shaped me, with my children – blasts from the past. For example, when the radio plays an Oasis song and, to my surprise, my teenagers sing along to every word with me.

In these moments of shared cultural experience, our generational divide vanishes. To them, the song is “retro” – to me it is “nostalgic”. But we are united in that moment.

AI’s assault on the press

Jenny Taylor

My father had a saying, an old Suffolk “saw”: “While fools go prating far and wide, we stops at ’ome, my dog and I.”

There is a certain truth in that. The world seems to be getting more “foolish”, and I am less convinced that prating far and wide – a public life of activism for its own sake, be it political or journalistic – makes much difference to the betterment of the human condition. And anything with “global” in its name makes me run for the hills.

AI: A new front in the spiritual battle?

John Wyatt

“Social media with no humans allowed”. “AI just created its own religion”. “The world’s first AI-only social media platform is seriously weird”.

The headlines were striking – are we entering a dystopian future in which autonomous AI systems are taking over the internet? The click-bait headlines are pointers to the rapidly growing capabilities of "AI agents" – software apps built on the power of large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. But AI agents are capable of taking autonomous actions – sending emails and blog posts, booking reservations, engaging in online shopping, even creating their own software and AI sub-agents.

What are AI 'deathbots' and how should we respond?

Andrew Drury

It is natural for people to grieve for loved ones who have died. One of the ways that people have tried to cope is through artificial intelligence (AI), with the creation of "deathbots" (also known as "griefbots").

The process of developing deathbots includes inputting all the words that the deceased person would use into the computer programme by using personal material such as e-mails, texts, voice notes, and social media posts. One limitation is the inability to portray the nuances made in communication (such as stress or tone), so the resultant speech can be monotone. Nevertheless, while the interaction may lack authenticity, the emotion for the bereaved person will be undoubtedly real for there will be a psychological buy-in.

AI and faith converge in Silicon Valley

Emily Pollok

Christianity and tech appear to be converging alongside the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the questions it’s raising for developers in Silicon Valley.

Prominent figures in the tech world like Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, and former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, have both spoken out recently about their Christian beliefs, particularly in the context of technological breakthroughs such as AI.

Warning over AI ‘deception’

Nicola Laver

An international machine-learning expert has warned of the dangers of “anthropomorphising” artificial intelligence (AI) machines, saying guardrails must be built to prevent humans – particularly children and teens – from being deceived.

Lord Lionel Tarassenko, speaking at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion on whether artificial general intelligence (AGI) is compatible with a Christian worldview, stated: “[Humans] physically experience pain and joy. An AGI chatbot cannot, although some humans can be fooled into believing it can.”

AI artist tops Christian charts, prompting backlash

Emily Pollok

An AI artist recently topped the iTunes/Apple Music Christian charts, prompting a backlash from Christians and discussions over where to draw the line when it comes to artificial intelligence and faith.

“Solomon Ray”, a computer creation of Christopher Jermaine Townsend (also known as Topher), has “an AI voice and a Mississippi soul” according to the artist’s Instagram page.

engaging with culture today

Honouring human creativity in an age of AI

Becca Nunes

I noticed a young artist’s face drop as she watched the projected AI-generated animation playing at the front of the church. It was a quick, fun animation made as part of a children’s talk. Most people hadn’t noticed it was AI, but the subtle tells were clear to anyone familiar with image creation.

AI-generated images and videos are increasingly appearing in our social media feeds, in advertisements, education, publishing and media – and now, it seems, even in our churches. And while we discuss how much ChatGPT should shape sermons or Bible studies, the use of AI in the artwork and design we use is often overlooked. It makes sense – when budgets are tight and time short, it’s tempting to use a tool that can turn a prompt into an image in moments. But what do we lose when we are too quick to do this?

Bible app marks a billion downloads

Luke Randall

The founder and CEO of YouVersion has described the influence of their Bible app as “unimaginable” as it celebrates its billionth download less than 20 years since its inception.

The rapid development of AI has prompted questions around how far technology should go when it comes to matters of faith. However, Bobby Gruenewald believes the news that the world’s most popular Bible app is celebrating its billionth download worldwide shows the positive potential of modern technology for gospel opportunities.

AI ‘scarily parallels Biblical prophecy’

en staff

Theologian, mathematician and bioethicist John Lennox says some predictions about Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking over the world “scarily parallel Biblical prophecy”.

Writing in The Times, Lennox – whose thinking has been extensively covered in en – said: “If we are going to take seriously the view of leading scientists and engineers that AI poses an increasing threat to humanity, should we not also take seriously Biblical predictions that become more realistic by the day?”

What must AI do to be saved?

Russell Moore

I once took an artificially intelligent cyborg to vacation Bible school.

Nearly 20 years ago now, students in my Christian ethics class at Southern Seminary confronted the question of artificial intelligence in their final exam. I asked them to imagine their future great-grandson, “Joshua,” as a minister within what used to be called the Southern Baptist Convention (but is now the “Galactic Immersionist Federation”).

'AI psychosis' - a dark spiritual reality?

Ben Chang

Over recent weeks, there has been growing public discussion about the concerning tech phenomenon known as “AI psychosis”.

The non-clinical term refers to the rising numbers of people who are being led into fixed false beliefs by AI large language models such as ChatGPT or Grok.

defending our faith

AI shedding new light on ancient texts

Chris Sinkinson

From 1947, the recovery of fragments of Biblical texts in the region of the Dead Sea became one of the most celebrated archaeological discoveries of modern times.

Accidentally found by Arab shepherd boys, the first scraps proved to be part of a trove of over 1,000 manuscripts hidden by Jews from the Romans during the first century. A recent paper has announced new light being revealed from these ancient texts.

When a church member falls in love with an AI: Preparing for new ministry realities

Robin Barfield

A new world is bringing new opportunities.

With those new opportunities come new challenges: challenges to know what is good and right and true; and challenges to know what choices to make around our relationships, intimate and physical. With increasing possibilities come increasing risks.

defending our faith

Artificial apologetics?

Chris Sinkinson

In a study of 1,016 job categories, only 36 were shown to be largely unaffected by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). These included ‘jobs’ like athlete and dancer. What about evangelists and apologists?

You can ask ChatGPT to “prepare a talk on Why God Allows Suffering” or “present a case for the reliability of the Bible” and, at the click of a button, get some pretty good suggestions. Artificial apologetics has arrived.

AI: Is it a gift of God or a tool of the Devil?

David Robertson

It is a fact of life that every major human invention is just a tool – which has the potential to be used for either good or evil.

The inventing of the printing press ensured the mass distribution of the Scriptures, and enabled the perversity of porn to spread throughout the whole of society. The internet enables me to share Christian teaching throughout the world; it also facilitates abuse and hate mail. It is little wonder that we view each new technological development with both a sense of anticipation and a sense of dread.

Reflections on John Lennox: 2084 and the AI Revolution

Paul Yeulett

To what extent has Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolutionised so many areas of life, not least medicine?

Reading the second chapter of Professor John Lennox’s book 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity was a veritable tour de force — an eye-opening experience for me, at any rate.

World-first Christian app powered by AI launched

A first-of-its-kind Christian Artificial Intelligence (AI) app, that provides personalised, Scripture-based theological insights has been launched by technology company bible.ai.

The first religious app to use voice and virtual AI on a theological platform, bible.ai allows users to ask questions and provides personalised answers based on the Bible and other theological data sources.

Turning to griefbots or grieving with hope?

Cassie Martin

Two of the most atypical Marvel/Disney+ series of the past couple of years have been two of the most interesting.

Instead of action men, explosions, robots and galactic threats, they featured intelligent storytelling combined with a quirky central concept, and a female showrunner and predominantly female casts. They were both, unusually for big budget productions, also about grief. Wandavision (2021) gave us the poignant line: ‘What is grief, if not love persevering?’, and in Agatha All Along (2024) the burden of grief carried by the charismatic villainess helped to humanise her.

Debate on AI in church 'urgently needed'

Graham Nicholls

Towards the end of last year, Affinity organised a webinar to discuss important questions around artificial intelligence use in the church.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to feature prominently in the news, whether in discussions about replacing humans for practical or social tasks, medical diagnostic tools, or deepfake videos. There is no doubt about the benefits of some AI tools; only this week, I came across an AI service that offered to handle charitable grant applications. This immediately appealed to me, having found the process tedious and frustrating in the past.

Technology and the vision of a Christ-centred cosmos

Paul Blackham

A technological revolution is happening in the way information is handled. It has been happening for at least 20 years but has achieved a level of impact and accessibility to make everybody sit up and take notice.

The modern world could be defined not as the Bronze or Iron Age but as the Ink Age – because words were the most powerful resource, beginning with the Renaissance and Reformation, through the Enlightenment and into the era of mass media through radio, television and information technology. This trajectory already indicates that words have been turned into pictures and images as a primary form of communication.

Tech wise

Stephen Ayre

Book Review MADE IN OUR IMAGE: God, artificial intelligence and you

Read review

A Wesley hymn on penguins?

Matt MacGregor

Would you sing a hymn written by a computer? I wonder how you would back up your answer to that question. I suspect the instinctive answer of many would be ‘no.’ But why not?

The answer cannot be because a computer won’t be good at it. AI technology probably became a better songwriter than you some years ago. I took the liberty of asking ChatGPT to write a hymn in the style of Charles Wesley about penguins:

South Korean Christians turn to AI

Luke Randall

Tens of thousands of Christians in South Korea have added technology supported by artificial intelligence (AI) to their spiritual diet, reports the Financial Times.

Many young Protestants in particular have started using AI-supported Christian apps, which has freed up pastors’ diaries to spend more time focusing on caring for members of their churches on a pastoral level.

AI – our unnecessary angst?

Nicola Laver

If you’ve seen Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, you’ll know the hunt is on for the key to a powerful sentient AI entity – a villainous entity that threatens to unleash god-like omnipotence over the entire world.

It’s a timely movie, illustrating the potential (if fictional) power of artificial intelligence; it’s prescience wasn’t lost on me (I watched it the same night I’d finished the first part of this article).

the Bible in action

Bible translation: AI and other reasons to be joyful

Jeremy Weightman

‘At last, it is like the heart of Christ is open to the Godié people.’

So said Bible translator Jean Dada at the recent launch of the Godié New Testament in Côte d’Ivoire. This is a typical reaction when people get the Scriptures in their own language for the first time: suddenly, they gain a depth of understanding not possible when reading in their second, third or fourth language.

AI – souless, risky, misunderstood…?

Nicola Laver

So I went on the search engine Google and typed in ‘AI’ (Artificial Intelligence).

Ironically, and paradoxically, that very search engine is itself a form of AI, of course.

politics & policy

Countdown to killer robots?

James Mildred

In December last year, OpenAI launched Chat GPT-4. It’s the most advanced chatbot yet, employing cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI).

You can ask it any question and it will come up with an answer, because it has access to a colossal amount of data. This extends even to the finer points of Baptist covenant theology, as I discovered recently.

Theologians debate super-fast rise of AI technology

Nicola Laver

‘Mitigating the risk of extinction from Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war’ – so stated a single-sentence open letter to the world, signed by global experts.

The message was circulated on 30 May, signed by hundreds of top AI experts and other key figures including Bill Gates, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and the chief executive of Google DeepMind. They signed the statement with the aim to ‘open up discussion’. There have also been calls for regulation of AI.

Artificial intelligence, ChatGPT & the nature of God

Cassie Martin

Have you ever tried asking your Alexa, Cortana or even Chat GPT to ‘open the pod bay doors’?

Without exception they will reply: ‘I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t do that.’ [When proofreading, we tried this on Siri and the answer was ‘Oh, not again!’ (en subs)] This is, of course, a reference to HAL, the ship’s computer, from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which famously goes rogue, developing a personality and priorities of its own.

The lively oracles of God are the most valuable thing

John Stevens

In recent weeks there has been a plethora of concern about the dangers of AI. One is the fear that AI will create new religions.

Israeli public intellectual Yuval Noah Harari recently told a conference in Switzerland: ‘In the future we might see the first cults and religions in history whose revered texts were written by a non-human intelligence. Of course, religions throughout history claimed that their holy books were written by unknown human intelligence. This was never true before. This could become true very, very quickly, with far-reaching consequences.’

editorial

The rise of AI

As evangelical believers, we marvel at the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and recognize both the potential threats and benefits it brings to our world.

The rise of AI signifies the incredible capacity of human intellect and innovation, reflecting the marvellous creative power bestowed upon us by our Creator.

New ChatGPT AI: ‘fear not’

en staff; christianscholars.com

New online artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT which is taking the world by storm should not be viewed with suspicion, a Christian academic expert says.

Microsoft’s ChatGPT (available at chat.openai.com/chat) has attracted millions of users across the globe since its launch just a couple of months ago. Google is launching a rival AI system called Bard.

In Depth: Artificial Intelligence

How can the AI revolution help Christians?

Woman finds faith through Chat-GPT

How should AI be used?

AI takeover: What do Christians make of the threat?

Ann Droid: A comedy, but profound

Is Artificial Intelligence a 'resounding gong'?

AI’s assault on the press

AI: A new front in the spiritual battle?

What are AI 'deathbots' and how should we respond?

AI and faith converge in Silicon Valley

Warning over AI ‘deception’

AI artist tops Christian charts, prompting backlash

Honouring human creativity in an age of AI

Bible app marks a billion downloads

AI ‘scarily parallels Biblical prophecy’

What must AI do to be saved?

'AI psychosis' - a dark spiritual reality?

AI shedding new light on ancient texts

When a church member falls in love with an AI: Preparing for new ministry realities

Artificial apologetics?

AI: Is it a gift of God or a tool of the Devil?

Reflections on John Lennox: 2084 and the AI Revolution

World-first Christian app powered by AI launched

Turning to griefbots or grieving with hope?

Debate on AI in church 'urgently needed'

Technology and the vision of a Christ-centred cosmos

Tech wise

Book Review MADE IN OUR IMAGE: God, artificial intelligence and you

A Wesley hymn on penguins?

South Korean Christians turn to AI

AI – our unnecessary angst?

Bible translation: AI and other reasons to be joyful

AI – souless, risky, misunderstood…?

Countdown to killer robots?

Theologians debate super-fast rise of AI technology

Artificial intelligence, ChatGPT & the nature of God

The lively oracles of God are the most valuable thing

The rise of AI

New ChatGPT AI: ‘fear not’

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