Bible study series – Artificial Intelligence: What does it have to do with me?

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Even if you are the greatest technophobe, it’s worth recognising that everyone, everywhere is affected by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Whether going shopping or on a phone helpline, paying for parking or receiving healthcare, AI is already having an impact on your life and will increasingly do so in the coming years. Some of these technologies are extremely helpful. I am grateful that a chatbot can save me waiting half an hour to ask a simple question about my phone bill. On the other hand, I am concerned about the use of facial recognition software to track people’s whereabouts in some countries.

As with most new technologies, the Bible has nothing to say about AI specifically, but much to say in general about how we use it. This series will equip you to think about how AI affects our lives and how we can use or respond to it. We will also ask, how are other people affected, and how can we speak up for them? How are the next generations using AI, and how can we support them? We will explore broad biblical principles such as being made in the image of God, idolatry, rest, the fall and what it means to be embodied. We will look at specific issues or aspects of human existence such as creativity, exercising power, kindness and counselling.

These devotions have been written by a group of multitalented people from a wide variety of backgrounds. Each has brought their own perspective to this very new topic. Some are more cautious than others about the potential of AI to contribute to society in particular ways. No doubt Christian thinking on this subject will develop rapidly, and a series like this will be very different in five or ten years time. I hope that you are enlightened, challenged and inspired by these studies.

Buy this series as part of the devotional book The Works of the Lord which covers a range of other topics including bioethics and creation care (BRF, 2025, £10), or the Jan-April 2025 issue of the Bible Reading Fellowship’s New Daylight daily Bible readings series (£4.99).

Contents

• Crowned with glory! Guided by AI? Psalm 8:3-8, by Revd Dr Chris Goswami
• Embodied, Hebrews 1:1–4, by Dr Rachel Siow Robertson
• The Image of God, Exodus 5:1b-2, by Revd Canon Tim Bull
• AI and Gardening, Genesis 2:15, by Dr Nathan Mladin
• Fallen, Genesis 3:6-8, by Patricia Shaw
• Work and Rest, Genesis 2:2-3, by Revd Canon Dr Gordon Giles
• Idolatry, Isaiah 44:13-14, 16-17, by Revd Dr Ian Morrison
• Begotten, Genesis 5:1-3 (NIV), by Prof John Wyatt
• Manners Matter, Proverbs 12:10, by Revd Charmaine Mhlanga
• Creativit, Exodus 31:1-6, by Revd Dr Justin Tomkins
• Comforting Words, Psalm 147:1, 3-7, by Dr Murdo Macdonald
• Protectors, Genesis 9:5-6, by Prof Peter Robinson
• Incarnated Teaching, Matthew 28:19-20, by Dr Mike Brownnutt
• Increasingly Human, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, by Graham Budd