AI for Human Flourishing

VIDEO SCRIPT

Reporter:  Colorado Christian University in Denver, Colorado was the site for a recent gathering of AI experts, journalists, and ethicists.

Pat Gelsinger: And I believe deeply that technology is neutral. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s how we shape it, how we use it, how we form it.

Reporter: The event was a collaboration between the university, the Christian Post and Gloo, whose mission is to shape technology for good and to promote human flourishing. Throughout the afternoon speakers asked the audience of tech leaders, faculty and students to keep their focus on technology as a tool to advance the kingdom of God on earth. Brandon Showalter, a journalist and podcaster with the Christian Post who has reported extensively on topics of theological interest in the church moderated a panel of AI experts.

Brandon Showalter: It often does get very touchy when you’re engaging what it means to be human.

Reporter: Across speakers. A consistent theology of technology emerged. AI is a gift of human creativity, but one that demands stewardship, humility, and moral clarity. A recurring theme was the value of each person made in the image of God.

Richard Land: The next chapter is ai. We must be engaged. We must be engaged. Otherwise, we will find it dehumanizing us, dehumanizing human beings all across the globe. We will, we will be losing the battle to the machine, the soulless machine, unless all of us stand up, and proclaim the unique value of every single human being because we are created in the image of God, and we are better than machines, more important than machines. And the machines are to serve us, not the other way around.

Brandon Showalter: At the Christian Post our reporting, our commentary, we’re going to plant our flag on that hill and say that Genesis one is still the foundation of our faith. These are not agreed to disagree on issues for Christians because we insist upon the inherent dignity of every human person because we are made in God’s image and likeness.

Justin Lester: I think it’s knowing the roots of this, knowing that this stuff was, this stuff came out with a goal of transhumanism, so the goal is to go beyond what God called us to do, right? Making machines do things.

Reporter: Reverend Dr. Justin Lester is the author of the Church of ai. And is known online as that tech pastor.

Justin Lester: I think the challenge here as preachers, as pastors, as prophets, is to be unscared, to stand flatfooted, to tell the truth on Jesus, and know that if we lift him, he’ll do the hard work, he’ll sustain us, and so that’s what’s gonna lead to human flourishing when we stop trying to be us and allow him to work through us.

Reporter: AI for Humanity was less a tech symposium than an ethical and moral convocation. Urging the faith community to engage ai, not with fear, but with wisdom, hope, and courage.

Brandon Showalter: Get in there, engage with the Holy Spirit, engage with God, engage with your friends. Try to make it better and see what the Lord will do through it. Because there are opportunities for the advances of the gospel. There are opportunities for good, but if you don’t engage, they won’t materialize.

Reporter: For Global News Alliance, I’m Sam Ebersole in Denver, Colorado.

People Interviewed and their Titles
Pat Gelsinger, Head of Technology for Gloo
Brandon Showalter, Reporter for The Christian Post
Richard Land, Executive Editor of The Christian Post
Justin Lester, Pastor, Educator and Author

Recording Location
Denver, Colorado, USA

Organization featured in this Story
Colorado Christian University, Christian Post, Gloo

Reporter/Producer for the story
Sam Ebersole

Story Provider/Contact
Sam Ebersole, Director of Training, GNA

Producing Organization
GNA