In the US, 94% of pastors fear AI will misinterpret the Bible, study finds

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to study the Bible, but Christians and pastors continue to have serious concerns about how AI interprets Scripture.

A new study conducted by Barna in partnership with Gloo as part of the State of the Church initiative found that the main concern is precisely the possibility of misinterpreting the Bible, according to the inVictory portal.

Among US adults, 74% are concerned that artificial intelligence could misinterpret Scripture. Among practicing Christians, the figure is even higher at 83%. Among pastors, as many as 94% of respondents expressed this concern.

At the same time, the study revealed an interesting difference between how Christians and pastors would like to use AI when studying difficult and controversial biblical passages.

A majority of pastors, 60%, believe that AI should present all major interpretations of a particular biblical passage, explain how they differ from one another, but not indicate which one is correct.

Among practicing Christians, only 26% support this approach.

Another 26% of practicing Christians believe that AI should go further and identify the most accurate interpretation of a disputed passage. Only about 10% of pastors share this view.

Despite these concerns, pastors generally do not reject the use of artificial intelligence to study Scripture. The study shows that most of them prefer to use AI as a research tool rather than as a source of definitive answers.

Earlier, we reported that the Christian organization The Pocket Testament League reported a sharp increase in interest in the Bible online. Over a nine-month period, its materials appeared in more than 750 million search engine results worldwide. From October 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, nearly 9 million people downloaded the Gospel of John through the Read Carry Share mobile app. That amounts to about 1 million downloads per month on average.

As LF reported, practicing Christians in the US use artificial intelligence (AI) significantly more often than average Americans. Researchers at Barna reached this conclusion after conducting a large-scale survey.