A new report from Barna offers some perhaps unexpected reveals about Artifical Intelligence:

At a Glance

• Practicing Christians express majority-level trust in AI across most domains of personal flourishing—and nearly half (48%) say they would trust AI with their spiritual growth. Pastors, by contrast, express far lower trust across all the same domains.
• Trust has a ceiling: 83 percent of practicing Christians worry about AI misinterpreting scripture, and 72 percent worry about AI replacing the role of pastors or spiritual leaders.
• Even so, one in three U.S. adults say AI’s spiritual guidance is as trustworthy as a pastor’s—a share that climbs among younger adults, approaching two in five among Gen Z (39%) and nearly half among Millennials (44%).

Practicing Christians are willing to trust AI with their spiritual growth. They are also deeply worried about what happens when AI starts acting like a spiritual authority. New research from Barna finds that the Christians most open to AI are often the same ones most unsettled by it.

A Surprising Level of Trust

When asked how much they would personally trust AI’s advice across a range of life domains, practicing Christians report noteworthy openness—and not just in practical areas. Nearly three in five (61%) say they would completely or somewhat trust AI with achieving financial stability, and 56 percent say the same for mental and physical well-being. But the trust extends into more personal territory as well: Majorities say they would trust AI with feeling happy and content with life (56%), understanding and expressing one’s true self (54%), having a sense of meaning or purpose (54%), and building meaningful relationships with others (53%). Nearly half say the same for growing spiritually (48%).

More in the full story from Barna Group