Ep. 492: Dr. K Believes Artificial Intelligence Provides Us With A “Gospel Moment”

You’ve probably been reading or hearing a lot about artificial intelligence these days. AI stocks such as NVIDIA have been driving the stock market. AI programs such as ChatGPT are already disrupting a number of industries, including education, journalism, and social media platforms. And lots of smart people believe that the disruptions have only just begun. AI generated video content is already blurring the lines between reality and something that is not reality, but which very closely resembles reality. And everyone involved with AI is unanimous in this: AI will only get better, more realistic, more powerful.

What are Christians to make of artificial intelligence?

Kathy McReynolds has made a career of studying the frontier between Christianity, technology, and anthropology, and she has some thoughts on the subject of artificial intelligence. Dr. McReynolds graduated with a BA in Christian Education at Biola University, and then went on to earn an MA in Systematic Theology at the Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. After earning her degrees, she took five years off, wrote five books, had three children, and then went on to earn her PhD in Ethics at the University of Southern California. She has since written nearly a dozen more books.

She has been a US intelligence officer and has advised the Department of Defense and the Office of National Intelligence on AI issues. For many years she was a professor in the Bible Department at Biola University. She currently serves as an AI Theologian for FaithTech, integrating biblical theology and emerging technology.

Dr. K, as she is often called, spoke to me via zoom.

The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.