Americans attending religious services are more concerned about the rapidly developing tech than the public as a whole, according to a study<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Practicing Christians and \u201cscripture-engaged believers\u201d in the US are more skeptical of rapidly developing artificial intelligence (AI) than the public as a whole, according to a new survey by the American Bible Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its second chapter of the annual \u2018State of the Bible\u2019 report released last week, the nonprofit organization examined respondents\u2019 opinions about the technology and what role it plays in their faith. The study was based on 2,506 online interviews with American adults across all states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The findings showed that levels of uncertainty about AI were high across the board, with 68% of the general public disagreeing with the idea that AI could \u201cpromote spiritual health\u201d and 58% of people disagreeing that AI could \u201caid in moral reasoning.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless of scriptural engagement or biblical allegiance, the report said \u201ceveryone is uncertain how a future with AI could look.\u201d At the same time, slightly more than half of respondents agreed that AI would bring about an increase in unemployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAmericans are more fearful than hopeful about Artificial Intelligence,\u201d stated John Farquhar Plake, American Bible Society\u2019s Chief Program Officer and State of the Bible Editor-in-Chief. He added that while the survey shows \u201ca great deal of uncertainty\u201d across the board, \u201cthe greatest uncertainty is at the intersection of faith and AI.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scripture-engaged Americans are \u201cslightly more\u201d concerned about artificial intelligence compared to Americans as a whole, the study found. Similarly, they were more likely than their peers to express agreement with negative statements about AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scripture-engaged showed an average \u201cagreement score\u201d of 3.1 on the belief that the use of AI \u201cgoes against biblical teaching,\u201d compared with an agreement score of 2.7 for the general public. Similarly, they were more likely to agree that the bad outweighs the good when it comes to AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The average level of agreement that AI would lead to increased unemployment was also highest among practicing Christians, followed by non-practicing Christians and non-Christians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea of a priest using AI to develop sermons was also more objectionable among practicing Christians than non-practicing or non-Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The non-profit\u2019s survey found that contrary to popular assumption, Gen Z\u2019s were not more positive regarding AI than older generations, despite their comfort with technology as \u201cdigital natives.\u201d In fact, Gen Z are \u201cmost concerned\u201d about how AI will affect their livelihood, fearing they lack AI skills to maintain their jobs, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n