From editorial director of ideas Bonnie Kristian: The photo at the top of my article about “faith-aligned” artificial intelligence company Gloo comes from a ChatGPT church service that was held in Germany two years ago. At the time, the event was treated as a novelty. It was clearly not normal Christian worship.

Would the same program be newsworthy today? I’m not sure. Our society has rapidly adopted AI technology, and many Christians, including evangelicals, seem eager to bring it into the life and worship of the church, advocating its use for online seminary training, sermon preparation, sermon content repurposing, and more.

I’m deeply wary of anything that would involve AI in the church’s work of spiritual formation or pastoral care. That’s why I wanted to talk to folks from Gloo, which is a dominant player in the faith-focused AI space and offers customizable “Christian” AI chatbots that are marketed to denominations, congregations, and individual users alike.

I recognize that many Christians won’t share my skepticism here. But I at least want to help them make an informed decision, to understand the philosophy about technology that undergirds Gloo’s work.