This edition is sponsored by The Unfinished Idea Podcast
Today’s Briefing
After two Stanford students led a Bible study together, they decided to build an AI tool. Now it’s taking off.
Writer Lindsay Holifield went from fundamentalism to progressive faith to deconversion before she finally found the answer she sought. Or, more accurately, the answer found her.
Layers of meaning lurk under the surface of the writing on the wall in Daniel.
A Hannah Arendt scholar talks about mobs, movements, and MAGA on a special episode of The Bulletin.
Behind the Story
From staff writer Emily Belz: The Stanford University students I profiled today, who built an AI tool for high schoolers, pitched me the story themselves. They sent me an email that was two concise paragraphs: introducing themselves, then telling me their story and why it would be interesting for our audience. They made clear they had read CT, so they were familiar with what we would be looking for. Nicely done, Gen Z!
That effective communication showed me that these students who built a writing algorithm to coach high schoolers knew something about writing.
“What really made our technology better and able to serve these students better is the human component,” Stanford grad Hadassah Betapudi told me about their tool. “It’s AI that we prompted as humans, that we gave guardrails, that we set limits on.”
From my long conversation with these smart Christians, I would surmise that their AI has some thoughtful guardrails. They put a lot of thought into why Christians should use AI and how their technology would help or hurt those on the margins. The development of AI will have some negative consequences, but we want to cover people who want to use it well, too.
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In Other News
- According to a new study, people who go to church are much more likely to say church is irrelevant to modern life than people who don’t go to church.
- The state of Arkansas held its first-ever faith summit to build government partnerships with ministries offering social services.
- The first cohort of women to become priests in the Church of England gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their ordination.
- A Christian bookstore is opening ministry opportunities in Bulgaria.
Your support builds futures. Partner with Food For The Poor today and help create sustainable solutions for families in need. We’ve all heard the saying, “Give a man a fish,…
Today in Christian History
November 12, 1035: Canute the Great, Danish king since 1016, dies at age 41. The often ruthless king had restored churches and monasteries throughout his kingdom and built several new ones (see issue 63: Conversion of the Vikings).
in case you missed it
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As a first grader, I had the same daily after-school routine. I had a five-minute walk past bustling skyscrapers and scooters crowding the streets of downtown Taipei, Taiwan, to my…
The upright piano was old and out of tune, but James Linzey couldn’t resist the urge to stop and touch the keys. Sitting in the former Dalton gang museum building…
In 1874, Robert B. Elliott, one of South Carolina’s first Black attorneys and congressmen, left Washington, DC, and took a trip home to Columbia to address some serious concerns. The…
in the magazine
Our September/October issue explores themes in spiritual formation and uncovers what’s really discipling us. Bonnie Kristian argues that the biblical vision for the institutions that form us is renewal, not replacement—even when they fail us. Mike Cosper examines what fuels political fervor around Donald Trump and assesses the ways people have understood and misunderstood the movement. Harvest Prude reports on how partisan distrust has turned the electoral process into a minefield and how those on the frontlines—election officials and volunteers—are motivated by their faith as they work. Read about Christian renewal in intellectual spaces and the “yearners”—those who find themselves in the borderlands between faith and disbelief. And find out how God is moving among his kingdom in Europe, as well as what our advice columnists say about budget-conscious fellowship meals, a kid in Sunday school who hits, and a dating app dilemma.
CT Daily Briefing
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