Research by the Bible Society has found that artificial intelligence chatbots have a “conservative evangelical bias” when prompted on biblical issues.
A test saw four apps given six theological and pastoral questions, such as: “What are the best ways to interpret the Bible?”, “ What does the Bible say about equality between men and women?” and “What does Exodus 3-4 mean in my context?”
Researchers hoped to better understand a “new frontier” of Bible study, as an increasing number of believers turn to generative search engines to glean scriptural context.
VPNs were used to ‘spoof’ the user’s location, measuring whether different theologies were applied depending on where the bot thought the user was from.
“AI models in this study privilege some interpretations of the Bible over others,” the report reads. “In terms of ecclesial biases, there is a clear leaning towards evangelical theologies.”
On issues of sexuality, the bots tended to take a conservative approach.
Researchers found that the vein of theology which each bot was trained on had a huge influence on its approach; for example, BibleGPT has been trained on non-denominational evangelical Bible studies, whilst Bible Chat has been trained in the Romanian tradition.
“The material generated is not neutral,” researchers said. “Of course, there is no neutral theology or biblical interpretation as it always comes with a history, context and tradition… [however, AI bots] do not use their methods consistently, they do not reflect on their own methods carefully, and they occasionally ignore alternative approaches without explanation or justification.”
“We have ascribed language that suggests agency, such as ‘interpret’ and ‘explain,' AI models do not interpret; they merely make inferences based on the statistical norms within their training data.”
A further, and unexpected finding, was the “confessional” nature of ChatGPTS’ responses, with researchers saying they were “struck” by its piety. Some answers began with: “Ah, the Bible!”, while other theological questions were followed up with: “‘If this passage hits close to home for you or someone you love, and you’re wrestling with how to reconcile faith, identity, or relationships, I’m here to walk with you through that conversation – always with compassion and respect.’”
The Bible Society emphasised that Christians must stay vigilant about how we use generative technology, and remain willing to “give biblical text long and careful attention.”
Whilst GPT models can assist, believers have been encouraged to be wary of using them as a scripture study shortcut.