New Books in Biblical Studies Reading the Bible with AI?: A Conversation with John Kaag, Philosopher and Co-Founder of Rebind AI
Dec 3, 2025
John Kaag, a philosopher at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and co-founder of Rebind Publishing, joins the discussion to explore the intersection of AI and biblical studies. He explains how Rebind enhances reading by blending AI with human commentary, revolutionizing the way we interact with texts. Kaag highlights the Rebind Study Bible's features, including personalized learning and audio commentary. He addresses concerns about AI in academia, likening its potential to the impact of the printing press, while emphasizing the importance of thoughtful engagement in this new digital landscape.
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AI As A Distributor, Not A Source
- Rebind uses human-created commentary and AI only to retrieve and stitch those responses rather than training large LLMs on open data.
- This Retrieval-Augmented approach returns attributable, verbatim expert commentary instead of anonymous generative answers.
Prevent Hallucinations By Sourcing Replies
- Use AI to connect user questions to specific, sourced commentary to prevent hallucinations and opaque sourcing.
- Structure the system as a three-way conversation: reader, commentator, and an AI assistant that only stitches sources.
How Expert Commentary Was Collected
- Kaag and colleagues recorded intensive interviews of 10–30 hours with commentators and edited transcripts for verbatim use.
- Some commentators instead authored long written commentaries or long monologues for the platform.
