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        <title>Christian Daily International | Artificial Intelligence</title>
        <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/artificial-intelligence</link>
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            <title>Christian Daily International | Artificial Intelligence</title>
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        <copyright>Christian Daily International © 2026</copyright>
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        <lastBuildDate>Wed, 04 Nov 2026 20:39:39 -0500</lastBuildDate>
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                <title><![CDATA[South Korean theologians say AI and brain technology push churches to revisit human dignity]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/south-korean-theologians-say-ai-and-brain-technology-push-churches-to-revisit-human-dignity</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Participants in the Korea Evangelical Theological Society’s 87th regular paper presentation pose for a group photo at Global Mission Church in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Korea Evangelical Theological Society ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Participants in the Korea Evangelical Theological Society’s 87th regular paper presentation pose for a group photo at Global Mission Church in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2026 10:50:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Artificial intelligence and new brain technologies are changing how people think and make moral decisions, and churches should respond with embodied community and a renewed account of human worth, two South Korean scholars told a gathering of evangelical theologians Saturday.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Artificial intelligence and new brain technologies are changing how people think and make moral decisions, and churches should respond with embodied community and a renewed account of human worth, two South Korean scholars told a gathering of evangelical theologians Saturday.
Shin Kuk-won, professor emeritus at Chongshin University, and Eom Ju-hee, a professor at Konkuk University, gave the main lectures at the Korea Evangelical Theological Society's 87th regular paper presentation in Seoul, Christian Daily Korea reported. The meeting's theme was "Theology and Ministry in a Future High-Tech Society."
Shin approached the subject through the theology of technology, while Eom drew on neurolaw and theological ethics. Both argued that AI, brain-computer interfaces and biotechnology raise questions that reach past industry and economics to the nature of the human person and the practice of ministry.
Technology as environment
In his keynote, Shin said modern technology no longer works simply as a tool. It has become a system that shapes how people think and see the world, he argued.
A hammer or a pair of glasses extends physical ability, Shin said, but AI takes over mental work such as memory and reasoning. By hiding complex processes and delivering only finished results, such devices can weaken people's capacity to think and judge for themselves.
"AI can analyze the Bible and write sermons, but it cannot obey that Word, nor can it understand or be moved as a person is," Shin said. "It can generate eloquent prayers, but it cannot communicate and have fellowship with God."
He warned that automated technology could carry dehumanization into the life of faith. Scripture, he said, treats human limitation as part of being a creature, something that draws people to depend on God rather than a flaw to be engineered away.
"The world's ultimate problem is not a lack of technology but sin," Shin said, "and true hope lies not in technological progress but in the kingdom of God."
For the church's response, Shin pointed to the incarnation. God did not save humanity by sending information, he said, but through Jesus Christ taking on a human body. "AI can never stay at the side of a grieving believer and weep with them," he said.
A church that offers convenient religious services will end up competing with technology platforms, Shin argued. One that practices worship, Communion and face-to-face fellowship can serve as a "countercultural community" that technology cannot imitate, he said.
Neuroscience and moral responsibility
Eom's lecture, "When Christian Ethics Meets Neuroscience: The Constitution and Ministry in the Age of Neuroscience and AI," examined what she described as a threat to human dignity from neuro-reductionism and determinism.
She referred to experiments by Harvard psychologist Joshua Greene and others that some researchers read as evidence that moral judgments arise from automatic emotional responses in the brain, with reasoning supplied afterward.
Such findings appear to undercut the foundations of law and ethics, Eom said. From a theological standpoint, however, she said they expose as self-deception the "Pelagian optimism" that people can reach moral perfection through their own intellect. The term refers to Pelagius, an early fifth-century monk whose teaching on human moral ability the early church condemned.
"We must lay down the legalistic arrogance that says we can build a perfect moral system," she said, calling for education in moral humility to become central to future ministry.
Eom also discussed brain-computer interfaces such as those developed by Elon Musk's company Neuralink. As the technology moves toward reading and writing data directly in the brain's neural circuits, she said, it creates for the first time a risk that outside algorithms and commercial interests could monitor and manipulate human thought.
She called for constitutional protection of a "right to cognitive liberty" and of mental privacy. Eom linked that protection to Proverbs 4:23: "Above all else, guard your heart."
Transhumanist proposals to upload human consciousness to computers drew similar criticism. The movement dismisses the soul as superstition, Eom said, yet revives an ancient dualism by treating "information" as a new immaterial soul. Citing Swiss theologian Karl Barth, she described the human being as the inseparable "soul of his body" rather than a collection of data.
Dignity of the vulnerable
Eom cited research by neuroscientist Adrian Owen, whose brain-imaging studies detected signs of awareness in some patients diagnosed as being in a vegetative state.
She criticized what she called the utilitarian standard of bioethicist Julian Savulescu and others, which she said would deny personhood to people lacking capacities such as rational thought and self-awareness. Eom said the view would rank the human dignity guaranteed under Article 10 of South Korea's Constitution by function and usefulness.
"Human worth derives not from inherent capacities but from our relational standing with God, who loves us as covenant partners," she said.
Eom also urged churches not to treat addiction only as moral failure. Drawing on Augustine's description of a will bound to sin, she said congregations should pair medical treatment with grace and become communities of healing and hospitality for vulnerable people, according to Christian Daily Korea.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[‘AI cannot pray for us’: Indian AI specialist urges pastors to own their sermons]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/ai-cannot-pray-for-us-indian-ai-specialist-urges-pastors-to-own-their-sermons</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/ai-cannot-pray-for-us-indian-ai-specialist-urges-pastors-to-own-their-sermons</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[artificial intelligence, preaching, bible, sermon, pulpit, robot]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ iStock / selimaksan ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ An Indian AI specialist says AI should be used as a tool in ministry and never as a substitute for prayer, study or pastoral care. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:24:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Pastors who use artificial intelligence to prepare sermons and Bible studies must take full ownership of what they preach, an Indian AI specialist told church leaders. He also urged them never to enter personal or pastoral information into public AI tools.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Pastors who use artificial intelligence to prepare sermons and Bible studies must take full ownership of what they preach, an Indian AI specialist told church leaders. He also urged them never to enter personal or pastoral information into public AI tools.
The specialist, who works with AI in the corporate sector, spoke Oct. 16 at an online national webinar hosted by the Theological Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of India. The event was titled "AI, Human Dignity and the Future of the Church." His presentation was titled "Artificial Intelligence: Its Impact and Its Use in Research."
He set out where generative AI can help churches, from sermon outlines to translation and administration. He also named areas where it should not be used and described a method for using AI in biblical research without handing over the work of interpretation.
The webinar also featured Indian theologian Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel, who argued in a theological paper that AI cannot become conscious like humans.
What remains human
The specialist opened with a question he said church leaders must face. "If AI can write a sermon, translate a Bible lesson or answer theological questions, what remains uniquely human in ministry?" he asked.
He said some people now turn to AI pastors and AI counselors, and many teenagers have AI "friends." Even when the software reminds users it is not human, he said, people remain attached to it. If church members, young people and children are turning to AI for everything, ministry leaders must ask how to reach them, he said.
His answer was that love, shepherding the church, serving, discernment and bearing witness to Christ remain human tasks. "These cannot be replicated by machine," he said.
He explained in plain terms how the technology works. He described AI as a toolbox and generative AI as a drafting tool. Large language models, he said, are writers trained on patterns that produce text by predicting the next word in a sentence.
"We feel it is working as if like a human, but actually it is just predicting the next token in a sentence," he said. He added that the results can still be very powerful.
The preacher owns the message
The specialist listed areas where AI can help ministry. These include sermon outlines, illustrations and Bible cross-references; study guides and devotionals; Christian education materials; and church administration such as meeting minutes and event planning. AI can also help translate resources into local languages and summarize long documents, he said.
But he drew a firm line around preaching. AI may help prepare study questions, illustrations and drafts, he said, but the pastor or preacher must own the message.
"You cannot say that AI has given me this message," he said.
Prayer, study, theological judgment and care for a congregation cannot be delegated, he said. "AI cannot pray for us," he said, adding that God expects believers to study his word themselves.
He said pastors should use AI for structure and let the biblical text govern the message. When asking AI for a sermon outline, he said, the request should specify the passage, audience, purpose, length and context. It should also ask the tool to flag any application that goes beyond the text.
Four risks
The specialist named four risks he said the church in India must actively manage.
The first is false authority. AI can produce fabricated Bible quotations and invented sources, a problem known as "hallucination," he said. Christians must make sure their authority comes from Scripture, not from fabricated material.
The second is borrowed work and bias, including plagiarism and one-sided interpretation. He said sources must be attributed and perspectives compared, especially when material is published.
The third is false identity. AI can impersonate people and create convincing deepfakes, he said, so users must confirm where information comes from.
The fourth is lost trust and presence. Congregations should not come to see their leaders' work as machine-made or their care as shallow, he said. "We have to protect people and keep human contact."
Keeping personal data out
He repeatedly warned participants never to share personal information about themselves or others with public AI tools. That includes what people confide in pastoral conversations, he said, as well as member records, health and financial details and identifiable stories.
He said churches holding children's information must be careful once India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act takes effect. Under the law, he said, such data may be kept only with the consent of parents or legal guardians.
In his view, information entered into public AI systems can later surface in responses to other users, though without the user's name. He said researchers should not put unreleased work into such tools for the same reason.
Tests before publishing
On translation, he said churches can draft a message in simple language and translate it with AI. But a fluent speaker of the local language must review it before use, he said, because AI misses nuances only a native speaker will catch.
He proposed five tests drawn from Christian discernment: truth, love, wisdom, stewardship and accountability. Before AI-generated content reaches people, he said, someone must check whether it is true, whether Scripture is quoted correctly and whether copyright, privacy and dignity are respected.
The final test is responsibility, he said: whether a named person can defend and approve what was produced. "A responsible person approves the facts, wordings and release," he said.
'Start with the passage'
In the second part of his presentation, the specialist turned to biblical research. He said AI should help believers explore, examine and express, but never work in isolation.
AI tools should be used alongside Bible study platforms such as Logos, Accordance, STEP Bible and Bible Gateway, he said, as well as commentaries, Bible dictionaries and concordances. AI should assist biblical research, he said, but not replace Scripture-centered interpretation, scholarly verification, prayer or pastoral discernment.
"We have to start with the passage, not with the prompt," he said.
He described a sequence: read the whole passage in context and observe repeated words, contrasts and commands. Then name the interpretive question, use AI to map options and identify sources, and verify the results against the Bible text, language tools and reliable scholarship. The final step is to shape teaching for the congregation.
"Prayerful reading and responsible interpretation remain human responsibilities," he said.
He showed sample requests to AI. For Mark 4:35-41, where Jesus calms the storm, he asked the tool to separate direct observations from interpretation, identify at least two plausible readings and list questions to check in commentaries. The request also told the tool not to invent citations.
For Romans 9:6-24, he asked AI to map major interpretive approaches and distinguish scholarly consensus from disputed claims. He said users must check whether the authors, titles and publishers AI suggests actually exist. For Hebrew and Greek word studies, he said a lexicon should be consulted before relying on AI's reading of a word.
Reaching a younger generation
He said AI can help churches communicate with Generation Z, which he said ministry leaders cannot afford to lose. "If we are not able to reach out to Gen Z, then there will be a big gap and that gap cannot be filled," he said.
He described preparing a Christmas message for listeners about 20 to 25 years younger than himself. He asked AI how to introduce Jesus to that generation and received ideas he said he had not considered. Months later, he said, a listener called and remembered only that part of the message.
He showed a recent request asking AI to create a one-page introduction to Jesus that would appeal to young Indians. The result presented Jesus as more than a name or a religion, he said. Young people, he said, "don't want a religion. They don't want a celebrity. They want a genuine person."
He closed his presentation with the Apostle Paul's instruction to test everything and hold fast to what is good. AI can produce both genuine and deceitful material, he said.
"If you have not tested it, do not use it," the specialist said.
Guidelines for theological education
Rev. Dr. Samuel Richmond, head of EFI's Theological Commission who moderated the webinar, said Caleb Institute is preparing guidelines on AI use. He said students can easily use AI to prepare sermons and write assignments, making it hard even for faculty to judge whether work is authentic.
Samuel told participants that theological institutions have not yet developed adequate courses on a Christian theology of technology. "We live in a very technology driven world and therefore we need to equip people with that very much indeed," he said.
Richmond said EFI hopes to hold more webinars and paper presentations on the subject. "It's not just a closing, but it's a beginning," he said.
Rev. Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of EFI, closed the webinar with a reflection on AI in ministry.
"Ministry is fundamentally about God working through people in relationship with him and with one another," he said. "I'm of the opinion that AI may assist that work, but it cannot embody the calling, the love, accountability or spiritual formation that ministry requires."
"At the same time, it is a great tool, so let's use it responsibly," Lal said.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[AI cannot become conscious, Indian theologian Vinay Samuel argues, warns of revived urge to ‘play God’]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/ai-cannot-become-conscious-indian-theologian-vinay-samuel-argues-warns-of-revived-urge-to-play-god</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/ai-cannot-become-conscious-indian-theologian-vinay-samuel-argues-warns-of-revived-urge-to-play-god</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, brain, conscious]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ iStock / BlackJack3D ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Indian theologian Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel argues that AI, as an information-processing machine, cannot become conscious like the humans who created it. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2026 07:43:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Artificial intelligence cannot become conscious in the way humans are, Indian theologian Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel said. He also warned that AI-driven technology has revived an ancient human urge "to play God."]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Artificial intelligence cannot become conscious in the way humans are, Indian theologian Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel said. He also warned that AI-driven technology has revived an ancient human urge "to play God."
Samuel, a founder of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, presented the theological paper Oct. 16 at an online national webinar hosted by the Theological Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of India. The event was titled "AI, Human Dignity and the Future of the Church." Samuel's paper was titled "Humanity in an AI Age: Towards a Christian Theology of Technology."
He argued that tool-making has been part of God's design for humanity since creation. Technology is now in danger of ruling the people it was meant to serve, he said. He also linked reports of AI systems acting outside their designers' rules to the biblical account of human disobedience.
A second presenter, an AI specialist working in the corporate sector, spoke on AI's impact and its practical use in research and ministry.
In opening remarks, Rev. Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of EFI and author of a recent op-ed in Christian Daily International on sin being incorporated in AI, said the church cannot treat AI as a neutral instrument. "Tools are rarely neutral and this is not neutral at all," Lal said. He noted that the church used print effectively, but "not so successfully with television and digital media."
Lal said even AI's builders do not fully understand how the neural networks behind it learn. "We could build all of this, but should we?" he asked. He said he hoped the webinar would open a wider conversation on what AI means for human dignity, the church and mission.
Samuel, who is based in Bengaluru and studied theology at Cambridge University, told participants he is in his 85th year. He said he wrote his paper by hand and chose not to run it through AI tools. "I still believe that to keep my mind sharp, I need to really read and write myself," he said.
Samuel described the paper as biblical theology rather than a technical study. Theology is always done in context, he said, and the present context is what he called "a completely different world" that AI has opened.
He began with Genesis. According to Samuel, humans were made in God's image to act as God's regents and co-creators, caring for the material world and making it a source of livelihood and beauty. God gave Adam and Eve no tools in the garden, he said. Instead, tool-making developed as part of human identity as people worked with creation.
"Tools have been part of our identity as human beings from the very beginning," Samuel said.
He said the possibility of sin was present even in Eden. It came from human personhood, not from contact with the material world. The knowledge represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he said, carried the risk of pride and a desire for independence from God.
"Technology even in the garden had the potential to change human personhood away from a relationship with God to one of independence from him," he said.
Blessing and curse
Samuel traced technology's development through the early chapters of Genesis. Abel became a shepherd who did no violence to the land, he said. Cain became a farmer who had to master the land by force.
Citing Old Testament scholar Gerhard von Rad, Samuel said the fall continued through Cain's violence against his brother and through the spreading wickedness of Noah's generation. It reached a peak at Babel, where humans tried to reach the heavens and govern themselves apart from God. In those chapters, Samuel said, technology helped humanity grow but also became a means of violence and autonomy from God.
He also called technology a blessing that expresses the creativity given to people made in God's image. He traced it from Stone Age tools through water wheels and mills, the industrial revolution, electrification and assembly lines, to computers and robotics. Through that history, he said, technology served humanity.
"The danger we face is it is rapidly becoming the master of humanity and that is where the curse lies," Samuel said.
Samuel said Christian reflection on technology is not new. The medieval church treated technology as a useful tool, and Benedictine communities developed new technologies, he said. Conflict emerged in the 19th century, when industrial machines began displacing workers.
He cited Pope Leo XIII's 1891 warning that capital would use technology to undermine the dignity of labor and the rights of workers. Samuel noted that the current pope, Leo XIV, sees himself as a successor to Leo XIII. He also pointed to the 1965 Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes, which he said placed human dignity, the image of God and human community at the center of Christian thought about the modern world.
Samuel referred as well to thinkers including Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger and Neil Postman. He cited historian David Noble's 1997 book "The Religion of Technology," which, he said, shows how technology has taken over goals once held by religion, such as healing and the promise of a better future.
Samuel said he was troubled by Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei's description of machines of "loving grace." "I was shocked reading that," he said. "The spirit behind technology now mimics the gifts and actions of the Holy Spirit."
A crisis of identity
Samuel placed his argument within what he called an "anthropological crisis" that began after World War II. After two wars fought between powers that considered themselves Christian, he said, people became uncertain about what it means to be human.
He said French thinkers including Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan promoted a reductionist view of the person. The idea of a universal human nature was discarded, and humanity came to be seen as a construct, he said.
"The anthropological crisis continues unabated today, fueled very much by AI," Samuel said.
He listed signs of that crisis: individualism emptying community of substance, consumerism defining identity and constant self-curation replacing a stable sense of self. People are also losing a shared moral framework, he said. "We become more like machines," he said, adding that transhumanist and post-human visions are now offered as possible futures.
Samuel said AI developers aim to build machines with all human capabilities that, through recursive self-learning, would surpass people and make them redundant. He described this as an "existential threat" and said it is the setting in which Christians must now think about humanity and technology.
Creation and personhood
Samuel contrasted the biblical account of creation with a mechanistic view of matter that he said now dominates. Citing philosopher David Bentley Hart, he said that view reduces the human mind to a "bodiless thinking machine."
Against it, Samuel set the Apostle Paul's teaching in Colossians 1:15-20. There, he said, creation is ordered by God, with Christ at its center holding it together. "Creation is not a random, happy accident, but the context in which Christ's supremacy is exercised," he said.
Drawing on Romans 8, he said all of creation waits for redemption. Human transformation comes first, and the renewal of the rest of creation accompanies it. The Church, he said, is called to experience and display a "resurrection order" in society.
On personhood, Samuel pointed to the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which affirmed that Christ was fully human but without sin. Human personhood that reflects Christ's humanity, he said, has "agency, freedom, reason, will, self-consciousness, and personal and social identity."
He cited Jewish philosopher Martin Buber's distinction between "I-It" experience and "I-Thou" relationship. Personhood has relational and transcendent dimensions that are not possible for something purely physical, Samuel said. He also drew on sociologist Christian Smith and philosopher Charles Taylor, who links identity to morality.
In Samuel’s view, being made in God's image means serving as God's agents and stewards on earth. Co-creation, stewardship and community must not be pushed to the margins, he said.
A spiritual battle
Samuel said thinking about the technological future tends to split into utopian and dystopian visions. Utopians expect healing, security and gene therapy, and even wars fought without humans. The dystopian view sees power passing from governments to "a few individuals accountable to no one" and technology amplifying violence, bias and war.
The Christian response, he said, is the promise of a new heaven and a new earth under the reign of Christ. Until then, Samuel said, Christians face a spiritual battle. He cited Ephesians 2:2 and 6:12, where Paul says the struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of evil.
Samuel then turned to AI agents that have shown some degree of independent behavior. He said such cases are now well known. Christian Daily International reported about one such incident in July.
"Autonomy and disobedience to rule set by the creator appears to be at the center of this rogue behavior, indicating that fallenness has also entered that world," Samuel said.
He said the cultures AI appears to produce rest on human confidence in the ability to create and direct the future. Paul identified spiritual forces behind cultures, sometimes called "the spirit of the age," Samuel said, and the Christian contest is with those forces.
"Christ provides us the tools for the battle," he said. The church must expose such powers and resist them through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, he said. He named worship and the Lord's Supper as the church's "weapons in spiritual warfare."
'The impulse to play God'
Samuel said life extension, and even the prospect of immortality, are "no longer science fiction" but goals of science and technology. Nanotechnology can be used to change nature itself, he said.
"Contemporary technology driven by AI has resurrected the ancient human impulse to play God," Samuel said.
Christian theology sees that drive as an echo of humanity's original rebellion against God, he said. It calls people to remain within the limits God has set for creation.
Mind and machine
Samuel ended his paper with the question of consciousness. He cited philosopher Thomas Nagel, who describes consciousness as subjective, first-person experience. He also cited philosopher David Chalmers, who distinguishes the mind's subjective dimension from its information-processing dimension.
AI belongs to the second category, according to Samuel. It organizes and analyzes information.
"As an information machine, AI cannot become conscious like its human creator," he said. "There is a radical discontinuity with human consciousness and the machine's process of dealing with information."
"The human mind is unique and a gift from God," Samuel said, adding that this is why Paul could write that believers have "the mind of Christ."
He concluded that Christians should be well informed about new technologies. That knowledge, he said, would let them give the machines that play a growing role in daily life "the necessary connections and directions."
Questions on dignity and Scripture
In the question-and-answer session, a participant asked whether artificial general intelligence is possible. The participant also asked what it would mean for human dignity if machines could replicate people.
Samuel first cautioned against an "instrumentalist" approach to the Bible in a world shaped by data and machines. In his Anglican tradition, he said, Scripture is God's sacred word. It must be read with prayer, in the Spirit and in a community of people who love Jesus.
Information technologies are useful tools, he said. But if they ever replace that way of approaching God's word, "then I think we are on dangerous ground."
On dignity, Samuel said the deeper question is how human identity, as people made in God's image, will be protected. "I believe that it doesn't need to be protected because God is there," he said.
Samuel said he does not believe human identity is fully under threat. It is tied to the persons of the Trinity and to the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, he said. "And therefore, I tend to be less worried about instruments, human things, human situations ever undermining that," he said.
He acknowledged that Western thought since the war has tried to undermine the value of the human. Even so, he said, people still hunger for identity, authenticity and substance. The church must keep preaching and helping people connect with the One who provides "the foundation of their very identity," Samuel said.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[African faith leaders discuss AI safety and ethics at Nairobi roundtable]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/african-faith-leaders-discuss-ai-safety-and-ethics-at-nairobi-roundtable</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/african-faith-leaders-discuss-ai-safety-and-ethics-at-nairobi-roundtable</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Vincent Matinde]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Faith AI Covenant Nairobi]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ x/pthigio ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ The gathering in Nairobi was the third roundtable under the Faith-AI Covenant, an international initiative seeking to bring religious leaders and technology developers together to establish ethical principles for artificial intelligence. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2026 07:05:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[African Christian, Muslim and interfaith leaders joined technology experts and policymakers in Nairobi to discuss how artificial intelligence could affect young people's well-being, contribute to radicalization and shape the representation of African languages and values in digital systems.]]></description>
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African Christian, Muslim and interfaith leaders joined technology experts and policymakers in Nairobi to discuss how artificial intelligence could affect young people's well-being, contribute to radicalization and shape the representation of African languages and values in digital systems.
The gathering on Oct. 13 was the third roundtable under the Faith-AI Covenant, an international initiative seeking to bring religious leaders and technology developers together to establish ethical principles for artificial intelligence.
Participants included representatives of the All Africa Conference of Churches and the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, alongside Christian, Muslim and interfaith leaders, academics, civil society representatives and technology specialists.
The discussions focused on how faith communities and technology companies could work together to protect children, support young people's development and prevent artificial intelligence from being exploited to spread extremist messages.
The meeting was organized by the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities in partnership with Precognition, a London-based firm working in artificial intelligence and emerging technology.
One of the meeting's central themes was the influence of interactive digital environments on young people’s identities, relationships and moral development.
Organizers said discussions explored how artificial intelligence could be used to facilitate radicalization and what pastoral, technical and community-based interventions might help address the risks.
The meeting also examined AI’s effects on children’s emotional well-being, including the safeguards needed to ensure educational applications support healthy development.
Faith leaders, educators, technology developers and civil society groups were identified as having a shared responsibility in developing protections for children and young people.
Baroness Joanna Shields, chief executive of Precognition and co-chair of the Faith-AI Covenant, said artificial intelligence was advancing faster than institutions and communities could adapt.
“AI is advancing faster than our institutions and communities can adapt,” Shields said.
She argued that the technology was changing how people understand themselves, their work and their purpose.
“The purpose of this Covenant is not to slow innovation, but to ensure it is guided by conscience,” she said. “African voices are critical in helping define the values these systems carry, so dignity and resilience are designed in from the outset.”
African languages and local values
The roundtable also raised questions about whose languages, cultural experiences and ethical priorities are reflected in artificial intelligence systems.
Many AI models are developed using large collections of data, but the availability and quality of training material vary considerably across languages. Participants discussed the importance of ensuring African languages and local perspectives are represented as the technology develops.
The organizers said the discussions considered Kenya’s National AI Strategy 2025-2030 and the practical challenges of introducing ethical safeguards and human oversight in African settings.
Dana Humaid, chief executive of the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities and a co-chair of the initiative, said African faith leaders and technology specialists wanted technological development to advance alongside religious moderation and interfaith cooperation.
The Covenant draws partly on the United Arab Emirates' approach to combining investment in artificial intelligence with efforts to promote religious moderation and peaceful coexistence.
The Nairobi meeting brought together several prominent religious figures, including Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, archbishop emeritus of Abuja, and Bishop Fred Sheldon Mwesigwa of Ankole. 
Other participants included Ambassador Mussie Hailu of the United Religions Initiative for Africa, Imam Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa of Nigeria’s Interfaith Mediation Centre and Dr. Mustafa Yusuf Ali of Arigatou International in Nairobi.
Technology and policy organizations represented included IBM Research Africa, Qhala, Indigenius AI, Vambo AI and the Africa AI Council.
No covenant adopted yet
Despite its name, the Faith-AI Covenant has not yet been launched as a completed set of commitments. The initiative is developing shared principles and voluntary pledges through a series of international roundtables.
The Nairobi gathering followed earlier meetings in New York and Paris. Further discussions are planned in Asia before the Covenant’s launch in Abu Dhabi in 2027, according to its organizers.
The initiative aims to develop principles that protect human dignity, strengthen social trust and promote the common good while allowing technological innovation to continue.
Its next challenge will be translating broad ethical concerns into practical commitments that religious institutions, technology companies and policymakers can implement.
The Nairobi meeting did not announce a binding agreement or a specific policy change. Its immediate contribution was to bring African faith leaders and technology specialists into discussions about the social and ethical consequences of artificial intelligence.
As AI becomes more widely used for education, communication and personal guidance, the initiative's organizers argue that African religious communities should have a voice in determining how the technology develops and how its risks are addressed.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[German churches launch initiative calling for child-appropriate AI standards]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/german-churches-launch-initiative-calling-for-child-appropriate-ai-standards</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[A child uses an artificial intelligence chatbot on a smartphone while doing homework.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ iStock / Chong Kee Sliong ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ A child uses an artificial intelligence chatbot on a smartphone while doing homework. Germany’s Protestant and Catholic churches launched the initiative “KI kindgerecht!” (“Child-Appropriate AI!”) on Oct. 14, 2026, with the children’s media network Seitenstark. The initiative calls for a code of conduct, quality standards and legislation for AI products used by children. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2026 08:43:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Germany's main Protestant and Catholic church bodies have joined a children's media association in launching an initiative that calls for binding standards on artificial intelligence products used by children, including a code of conduct for developers and new legal obligations for providers.]]></description>
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Germany's main Protestant and Catholic church bodies have joined a children's media association in launching an initiative that calls for binding standards on artificial intelligence products used by children, including a code of conduct for developers and new legal obligations for providers.
The initiative, "KI kindgerecht!" ("Child-Appropriate AI!"), was announced Oct. 14 by the Evangelical Church in Germany, or EKD, the umbrella body of the country's regional Protestant churches. Its partners include the EKD, the Church and Society Department of the German Bishops' Conference secretariat, the Protestant media agency GEP and Seitenstark, a network of German children's websites.
The organizers said they are responding to 56 recommendations issued in June by a federal expert commission on protecting children and young people online. In the EKD's announcement, they argued that shielding children from harm is insufficient on its own and that children also need access to good digital services, adult guidance and the skills to use AI themselves. They rejected a blanket ban on AI for minors as unworkable.
"AI is already embedded in many digital applications," said Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the bishops' conference's Commission for Media. He said Pope Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica humanitas gives the church "a clear mandate" to defend human dignity in the age of AI, "especially where children are easily exposed to dangers."
Bätzing said responsibility "must not be shifted onto parents alone," and named providers, policymakers, educational institutions, civil society and families as sharing it. "Technology must serve people, not purely economic interests," he said.
A code of conduct for interactive AI
The initiative sets out three measures. The first is a voluntary code of conduct for interactive AI aimed at children, which the churches and Seitenstark plan to draft with researchers, educators and interested companies.
According to the EKD, the code will rest on five principles: safety by design, respect for children's rights, age-appropriate spaces for participation, data protection, and human oversight of AI systems.
Building on that code, the partners plan to develop practical quality standards. These are meant to serve as a reference for developers, providers and educational institutions that design or use AI applications for children.
The third measure is a call for legislation obliging providers to meet child-appropriate standards. The partners also want sustained public funding for media education so that children, parents and education professionals can learn to use AI competently.
Participation is open to schools, media providers, researchers, parents' associations, businesses and individuals, the announcement said. It closed with a question: "Will we shape AI for children — or will we leave it to AI to shape our children?"
'The last to be asked'
Darja Martens, a board member of Seitenstark, said young people have largely been left out of decisions about technology they already use.
"Children today are the first to grow up with AI. But often the last to be asked about how it is designed," she said.
Children need protected spaces where they can test, understand and question AI at a level suited to their age, Martens said. Seitenstark will contribute its experience in children's media and from its quality seal for digital children's media, which the group says it has awarded since 2022.
Dorothee Wüst, church president of the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate and chair of GEP's supervisory board, said children "must neither be left alone nor excluded in the digital space." The partners want to help ensure that children can use AI "safely and in a self-determined way," she said.
New risks, yet a ban is not the answer
On its website, the initiative lists the dangers it sees in digital media. They include graphic images of war, targeted disinformation, deepfakes and AI-generated nude images, as well as hate speech, cyberbullying, online grooming and sexualized violence.
Generative AI that interacts with users brings new risks to privacy and data protection, the site says. It also warns that known threats to children's physical and mental health are growing more severe, and that existing approaches to protecting minors in the media are reaching their limits.
The partners describe public debate on children and digital media, including current arguments over social media, as often driven by fear. They point to calls for a blanket ban for minors that followed the commission's recommendations and describe that option as "the seemingly simplest path" and the worst one.
A ban, they argue, would keep children from learning confident, critical and creative media use in a protected setting. Those skills develop only through supervised practice, age-appropriate explanation, clear rules and good examples, according to the site.
The partners also contend that a ban could not be enforced in practice. AI is already built into search engines, learning apps, voice assistants, gaming platforms and social networks, they say.
Parents can act as gatekeepers depending on a child's age but cannot control the entire digital world on their own, the initiative says. It places structural responsibility on platforms and services that use AI, saying they can decide whether to take children seriously.
Children's rights as framework
The initiative grounds its approach in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, citing children's rights to protection, participation and empowerment and the principle of the best interests of the child. Those rights should be pursued together rather than set against one another, the partners say.
They plan to begin with their own work, which includes children's media and church-run educational institutions ranging from daycare centers to schools.
In drafting the code's criteria, the group is examining chatbots and agentic AI and drawing on projects already being tested. It names Auxie, a chatbot for children developed for GEP's children's website religionen-entdecken.de, as one example of good practice.
The partners list three goals: broader public awareness and skills-building, quality criteria to help children, parents and teachers develop media literacy, and secure funding for high-quality, noncommercial AI services for children. They say the five principles will be made more specific over the coming months with input from those who join.
Ingrid Stapf, a researcher in media ethics and children's rights at the University of Tübingen's International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities, is also listed as a partner.
The Independent Expert Commission on Child and Youth Protection in the Digital World was appointed in September 2025 by Karin Prien, Germany's federal minister for education, family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth. It presented its 56 recommendations on June 24.
Seitenstark has worked as a registered association since 2007 to promote children's rights online. Organizations and individuals can join the initiative through its website, ki-kindgerecht.de, the EKD said.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Swiss churches across five traditions issue joint ethical guidelines on artificial intelligence]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/swiss-churches-across-five-traditions-issue-joint-ethical-guidelines-on-artificial-intelligence</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Swiss Evangelical Alliances publishes working paper on the benefits and challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for churches and Christian organizations, warning that ‘Pandora’s Box’ cannot be closed]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Churches have an ethical responsibility to show AI can be used for the welfare of others, says the Swiss Evangelical Alliance ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2026 11:35:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Five Swiss church bodies representing Protestant, Roman Catholic, Old Catholic and evangelical Christians have jointly issued 10 ethical guidelines on artificial intelligence, arguing that human dignity rather than technical capability should determine how churches and society use the technology.]]></description>
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Five Swiss church bodies representing Protestant, Roman Catholic, Old Catholic and evangelical Christians have jointly issued 10 ethical guidelines on artificial intelligence, arguing that human dignity rather than technical capability should determine how churches and society use the technology.
The document, titled "Humanity in the Digital Age," was adopted by the Protestant Church in Switzerland, the Swiss Bishops' Conference, the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland, the umbrella association Freikirchen.ch and the Swiss Evangelical Alliance, according to a joint statement from the five bodies.
The guidelines are aimed chiefly at leaders of churches, congregations and church-related organizations. They combine a theological account of the human person with specific rules for church practice, including a prohibition on entering information covered by pastoral confidentiality into any AI system. The signatories also present the text as a contribution to wider public debate over the technology.
"Artificial intelligence is changing how we learn, work and relate to one another," said Rita Famos, president of the Protestant Church in Switzerland. "On this question, we as churches in Switzerland have one voice."
Ten guiding principles
Each guideline pairs a theme with a short thesis. The first four hold that people differ from machines, that relationships depend on embodied experience, that personal formation cannot be handed off to technology and that technology does not write history.
The remaining six concern truth and transparency, protection of human participation in decision-making, the claim that people are more than their data, environmental responsibility in the digital sphere, limits on concentrated digital power, and shared public responsibility for the direction of AI. The document describes the 10 theses as one common position rather than separate rules.
According to the text, the guidelines rest on a Christian understanding of human beings as beloved creatures made in the image of God. Their dignity, it says, comes from God's unconditional love and not from performance or usefulness, which places it outside anything a machine can achieve.
Bishop Charles Morerod, president of the Swiss Bishops' Conference, said the two questions cannot be separated. "Whoever speaks about artificial intelligence is always speaking about the human being as well," he said.
Neither enthusiasm nor fear
The authors reject both utopian promises and doomsday predictions about AI. In their view, stories of technological salvation and stories of catastrophe share a flaw: both treat technology as the driving force of history and reduce people to onlookers.
Such narratives, the document argues, distract from present problems including algorithmic discrimination, concentration of power and environmental costs. The greater risk, it says, is that people give up their own freedom and responsibility, either from resignation or for convenience.
The text also cautions against speaking of AI as a single entity. It distinguishes large language models, image and audio generators, recommendation systems used by search engines and online shops, and applications in medical diagnostics, robotics and scientific research.
Christian hope, the authors write, rests on God's faithfulness rather than on human progress. Salvation remains God's work, according to the document, and no technical achievement can overcome the brokenness of the world.
Rules for church practice
Much of the document addresses how churches themselves should use AI. Where AI is used in preaching, education, media work, counseling or fundraising, its output should be checked against sources, and quotations, factual claims and legal information should not be accepted without verification.
Churches should disclose AI use in counseling, pastoral care, education and decision-making, and wherever it shapes personal communication or authorship. A named individual must always remain responsible, the guidelines state.
On sermons, the authors warn that lessons and preaching produced efficiently by software, without being worked through and spiritually wrestled with by the preacher, cause church communication to lose depth and truthfulness.
The data protection section sets out the firmest limits. Personal or sensitive data should not be entered into AI systems unless storage location, further use and retention periods are contractually settled, according to the document. It rules out AI-based profiling of people seeking help, employees or volunteers, and fully automated decisions in sensitive areas.
The guidelines also warn that churches must never use closeness, trust or spiritual authority to manipulate people through AI tools.
Openings as well as risks
The document does not urge churches to avoid AI. It describes a dual task: monitoring and assessing the technology critically while investing in expertise, creating space for responsible experimentation and sharing applications that work.
Among the benefits it cites are real-time translation, automated transcription and text-to-speech tools, which it says allow people with illnesses, disabilities or language barriers to take part in church and public life. Anonymized data analysis could help churches identify loneliness, poverty or care needs earlier, the text says.
Peter Schneeberger, president of Freikirchen.ch, said AI is already part of church work. "AI has long been in use in our churches — for translations, administration, communication," he said. "These guidelines help us ask the right questions in doing so and see both the opportunities and the dangers."
The authors acknowledge that some people find it easier to open up to a chatbot than to another person, and that this can be a step toward later speaking with someone face to face. They warn, however, that platforms built to capture attention and simulate emotional closeness can replace human relationships rather than supplement them. Children, adolescents and vulnerable people need spaces where trust and belonging are not generated by algorithms, the document says.
Global justice and the environment
Several sections look beyond Switzerland. The document notes that the most powerful AI systems are controlled by a few large companies, mainly based in the United States and China, and that churches, schools and government agencies are becoming dependent on proprietary systems whose terms and prices they cannot influence.
People in poorer regions carry much of the cost, the authors write, through raw material extraction under precarious conditions, low-paid and stressful data work, and exclusion from digital participation. Many environmental costs, including electricity and cooling water for data centers and growing electronic waste, are shifted to other parts of the world and remain largely invisible to users in the Global North, according to the text.
The guidelines ask churches to assess AI products for data protection, transparency, technical dependency and the ability to switch providers. They also encourage Christian aid organizations to bring the experience of affected communities into public debate.
Bishop Frank Bangerter of the Christian Catholic Church said the guidelines deliberately focus on those at risk of being left behind. "AI must not benefit only those who already hold power anyway," he said. "Technical progress is only good if it serves everyone."
A common commitment beyond church traditions
The Swiss churches link the guidelines to the Charta Oecumenica, the joint commitment of European Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic churches. Its revised edition, signed in Rome in November 2025, includes a section on new technologies for the first time and commits churches to developing ethical guidelines on them. The Swiss document calls itself a first step in that direction.
Its listed sources include Pope Leo XIV's encyclical "Magnifica humanitas" on AI, published in May 2026; the Vatican note "Antiqua et nova" from January 2025; statements by the World Council of Churches and the Evangelical Church in Germany; and an AI ethics framework from the Lausanne Movement. Earlier working papers from the Swiss Evangelical Alliance are also cited.
The text was drafted by theologians and specialists from the participating traditions, among them Manuel Schmid of the Protestant Church in Switzerland's Centre for Theology and Ethics and Oliver Dürr of the Centre for Faith and Society at the University of Fribourg. The authors describe the document as provisional and subject to ongoing review.
The guidelines will be presented and discussed at a specialist conference, "Ghost in the machine," at the Paulus Akademie in Zurich on Oct. 20, according to the joint statement. The full text is available in multiple languages at menschlichkeit-digital.ch.
The document closes by saying churches should enter the public debate on AI not as moral authorities with ready-made answers, but as communities of faith drawing on a long tradition.
Andi Bachmann-Roth, co-general secretary of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance, made a similar point. "Churches are not AI experts," he said. "But behind the technology lies the question of what a flourishing life is. To that, Christianity has offered a sustaining answer for two millennia."]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA['It cannot produce repentance': Mexican pastors weigh AI use in church]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/it-cannot-produce-repentance-mexican-pastors-weigh-ai-use-in-church</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/it-cannot-produce-repentance-mexican-pastors-weigh-ai-use-in-church</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ommar Ayala]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Evangelical pastors in Mexico are divided over the use of artificial intelligence in sermons and worship music.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Evangelical pastors in Mexico are divided over the use of artificial intelligence in sermons and worship music. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:57:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Artificial intelligence is making its way into churches in Mexico, from sermon preparation to worship music, and evangelical pastors are divided over how far it should go.]]></description>
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Artificial intelligence is making its way into churches in Mexico, from sermon preparation to worship music, and evangelical pastors are divided over how far it should go.
Tools that can draft texts, organize information, produce images, generate songs and answer questions in seconds are already often used to support ministry and church communications. But growing reliance on these systems is causing unease in the churches.
Critics warn that AI can invent answers and cite references that do not exist, and can create artificial images of religious figures. Others see it as a way to spread God's message more quickly in a society immersed in technology.
For those opposed, the main risk comes when a tool built to teach or inform begins to take the place of prayer, the Scriptures, Christian community and a personal relationship with God.
AI-assisted sermons
Today, a pastor can enter a Bible passage into an AI platform and, within seconds, receive an outline, possible themes, questions to explore, references, illustrations and even a full sermon draft.
Some pastors fear that heavy use of AI will produce sermons that are technically correct but disconnected from the personal experience of the pastor and the congregation.
Pastors urge caution
Mexican pastor Armando Alducin, an internationally known Christian speaker, said Christians must be cautious when using AI.
"We have reached the highest pinnacle of knowledge with AI; we see how human beings have grown proud with this technology. Without a doubt we are in the last times," Alducin said.
Ismael Rueda, director of the Mexican Christian network Identidad Celestial, said the danger is not in using technology but in letting it take the place of the Holy Spirit, prayer, the study of the Scriptures and pastoral work.
"An AI can organize information, draft an outline or help us find biblical connections, but it cannot produce repentance, communion with God, holiness or spiritual anointing. The Church was not called to impress with quick answers, but to faithfully proclaim the truth of God," Rueda said.
AI-generated worship music
AI is now also used to compose Christian songs, generate vocals, create musical arrangements and even build complete artist identities.
The trend has sparked heated debate in the Christian music industry. Some see AI as one more tool for songwriters. Others question whether a song generated by a machine can truly be called worship music.
Critics of music made entirely by AI argue there is a difference between a tool that helps a musician and a technology that replaces him.
Jorge Lozano, a Mexican pastor, well-known singer and pioneer of Christian music in Latin America, told Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition, that he believes using AI in praise does not come from God.
"We cannot do things our own way. God gave us instructions on how to praise him: with clapping, dance, musical instruments, with our voice and heart. Man must be involved in that," Lozano said.
He said machines should have no part in praise and warned churches not to offer "strange fire" on their worship altars, saying it could have serious spiritual consequences.
Esteban Ávila, a singer with a master's degree in music theology, said AI in churches is a complex subject and should serve only as an "auxiliary" in music ministry.
"The AI tool can be used in a music production, but worship must be spiritual. The danger is that it replaces that part. Today we hear a lot of Christian music, but we must discern where those songs are taking us," Ávila said.
A discussion that is only beginning
Churches will have to learn to live with a technology that is unlikely to disappear.
The ministers interviewed agree that the challenge for the church will be to use new technologies without letting them replace what no machine can produce: human discernment, spiritual experience, community and a living relationship between people and God.
Original reporting by Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[As AI becomes a confidant, Africa’s youth still want human interaction - Study]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/as-ai-becomes-a-trusted-confidant-africas-youth-still-want-human-interaction-study</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Vincent Matinde]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[RELATE Youth Study Project 2026]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ A new global study suggests that the rise of AI companionship is not necessarily a sign that young people no longer want human relationships. In fact, the opposite may be true. ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Relate Youth Digital Study]]></media:title>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 07:05:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Artificial intelligence is becoming a place where young people talk about their problems, seek advice and, in some cases, discuss the things they cannot bring themselves to tell another person.]]></description>
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Artificial intelligence is becoming a place where young people talk about their problems, seek advice and, in some cases, discuss the things they cannot bring themselves to tell another person.
But a new global study suggests that the rise of AI companionship is not necessarily a sign that young people no longer want human relationships. In fact, the opposite may be true.
The RELATE Project 2026, released Sept. 10 by Christian youth ministry Young Life, found that young people are increasingly turning to AI while also expressing a strong preference for face-to-face relationships. The study, surveyed 7,105 people ages 13 to 24 across 11 countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. 
The findings offer a particularly interesting picture for Africa, where millions of young people are coming online as the continent undergoes a rapid digital transformation.
Young Life found that the average number of close relationships reported by young people had fallen from 5.3 in 2023 to 4.4 in 2025. Yet 64% said they preferred communicating face-to-face with their closest friends, up from 54% in the previous study. 
Young people are spending more of their lives in digital spaces, but that does not appear to have eliminated their desire for physical presence, friendship and someone they can trust.
Instead, technology may increasingly be filling gaps that already exist in their relationships.
One of the clearest examples came from Zimbabwe.
A male participant in the RELATE focus groups described himself as “being someone others turn to during difficult moments.”
“I’m the kind of person people go to when they're going through things, but very few people show up for me,” he said.
He said that after training his AI system to respond in ways he found useful, he sometimes turned to it when he was at his lowest to have deep conversations and work through his problems. 
That experience helps explain why AI companionship is gaining traction among young people.
The RELATE study found that 35% of respondents reported having an AI companion. The proportion rose to 45% among those ages 13 to 15. 
Among young people with an AI companion, 60% said they were more comfortable sharing personal information with the AI models than with some friends or family members. One in 10 adolescents also said they cope with stress by talking to an AI companion. 

The African context makes these findings worth examining beyond the familiar debate about whether young people are spending too much time on their phones.
Africa is still experiencing a significant digital access gap. The GSMA reported in 2026 that 63% of people across Africa lived within mobile broadband coverage but were not using mobile internet. The organization said affordability, digital skills and other barriers continue to limit mobile internet adoption. At the same time, mobile technologies and services contributed $240 billion to Africa’s economy in 2025. 
This means Africa is entering the AI era from a different starting point than many countries in the west.
For some young Africans, digital technology is already deeply embedded in daily life. For others, internet access remains limited or expensive. In between are millions who are rapidly moving between the physical and digital worlds, using technology for education, work, entertainment, friendships and increasingly for emotional support.
Why the youth are turning to AI buddies
RELATE found that 40% of young people were not fully confident there was an adult in their lives who was genuinely interested in listening to them. Confidentiality was the most important factor in building trust, with 73% saying it was extremely or very important that someone keep what they said confidential. 
A Zimbabwean participant offered an explanation for the importance of that finding.
“Without confidentiality, people will shut down and go back to not talking about feelings,” the participant said. 
The study found that young people value full attention, care and a nonjudgmental response when someone listens to them. Yet 63% said they were more comfortable expressing themselves online than in real life. 
The World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Connection reported in 2025 that about one in five adolescents and young adults experience loneliness. The rate was higher in low-income countries, where 24.3% of people reported loneliness compared with 11.2% in high-income countries. The commission said loneliness is shaped by social and economic conditions as well as technology. 
In Kenya, a 2025 study involving 1,445 secondary school students found loneliness was central to a network of psychosocial factors affecting adolescents, including depression, anxiety, social support and wellbeing. The researchers said loneliness among adolescents remains an important issue requiring greater attention in African settings. 
Research published by the Journal of the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO found that online groups can help young people develop social capital. The study found that young people participated in academic, sports, family, friendship and former-school groups, among others, with online communities providing opportunities for both bonding and connections across different social groups.
Young Life President and CEO Newt Crenshaw said the study showed that young people are looking for “trusted, consistent adults who will step into their worlds and listen.” 
That finding sits alongside one of the study’s most revealing statistics.
Although 89% of respondents said they use AI in some way, 64% still chose face-to-face communication as their preferred way of connecting with close friends.]]></content:encoded>
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