At a Glance

• 66 percent of practicing Christians say AI is improving their lives, yet 57 percent also say AI is a threat.
• Gen Z and Millennials are particularly sensitive to the rise of AI as a high risk.
• Pastors diverge sharply from the Christians they lead: 72 percent say AI is a threat, compared to 57 percent of practicing Christians.

New research from Barna Group finds that practicing Christians lead every faith segment in seeing AI as both high opportunity and high risk—more optimistic about AI than the general population, yet nearly as concerned. This article is the first in a yearlong series focused on faith & AI, part of the State of the Church initiative, produced in partnership with Gloo.

Across every measure of AI’s potential upside, practicing Christians outpace the general population. Nearly two-thirds (62%) say AI is making the world a better place, compared to 53 percent of U.S. adults overall. Sixty-six percent of practicing Christians say AI is improving their own lives—13 points higher than the national norm.

But the level of concern correlates to the level of optimism: 57 percent of practicing Christians say AI is a threat, a figure identical to the national average; 53 percent say AI creates more problems than it solves, and 54 percent say AI is biased.