Christians View AI as a Gift—and a Threat: New Research

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. 

The result is not a population divided between optimists and skeptics, but one in which the same people are holding competing assessments at once.

To map that tension, Barna plotted respondents across four quadrants defined by two composite scores: opportunity (agreeing that AI is making the world a better place and improving one’s life) and risk (agreeing that AI is a threat and creates more problems than it solves). The quadrant that best captures the Christian response is the one researchers call high opportunity, high risk, and practicing Christians lead every faith segment in it.

Nineteen percent of practicing Christians land in that quadrant. Among non-practicing Christians, the figure drops to 10 percent. Among Americans with no faith, it falls to 7 percent. “As faith engagement deepens, so does the sense that AI is both promising and problematic,” says Daniel Copeland, Barna’s Vice President of Research. “The data suggest that practicing Christians aren’t ignoring that tension, they’re leaning into it.”

A Generational Dimension

The high opportunity, high risk pattern is not unique to faith. Gen Z and Millennials show similar concentrations—18 percent and 20 percent respectively in that quadrant, suggesting that age and exposure to AI may be as much a factor as religious engagement. Boomers land almost entirely outside the tension: 73 percent fall in the low opportunity, low risk category, and only 2 percent hold the high opportunity, high risk view.

One generational data point worth noting: 20 percent of Gen Z respondents fall in the low opportunity, high risk quadrant—the largest share of any group in that category. They are not indifferent to AI, but they are disproportionately worried about it without a corresponding sense of benefit. Perhaps this is due to their lifestage, in which they are facing an uncertain work and economic future and are less willing to give the automations the benefit of the doubt.

In total, two in five Gen Zers (38 percent) and one in three Millennials (34 percent) were deemed to view AI as high risk. That compares to just half as many Gen Xers (17 percent) and nearly one in every 20 Boomers (6 percent). In other words, the rising generations are really feeling the oncoming threats from the advanced technology.

What the generational and faith data share is a common thread. The groups most immersed in AI—younger adults, practicing Christians who engage culture at higher rates across the board—are also the groups most likely to be wrestling with it seriously rather than looking the other way.

Where Pastors Stand

Pastors occupy a different position than the Christians they lead, and the gap is notable. Their opportunity numbers are not dramatically lower: 55 percent of pastors say AI is making the world a better place, and 59 percent say it is improving their lives—figures not far from the national average. But their levels of concern climb sharply: 72 percent of pastors say AI is a threat; 79 percent say AI is biased.

Pastors are not, by these measures, in the high opportunity, high risk posture that characterizes many of the Christians they lead. Whether that gap represents a meaningful divide in how AI is shaping faith communities—or simply a difference in how quickly leaders and congregants are moving—is a question the data raises but does not answer.

What the data does make clear is that practicing Christians are already engaged with the opportunities, with the concerns, and with the complexity AI presents. The conversation is already underway among the people in the pews. For Christian leaders, that may be the most important finding of all.

“As many Christians quickly embrace AI in all of its complexity, pastors’ caution may be a necessary counterbalance, especially for younger generations who have come of age in a digital world without always being equipped to navigate it with discernment,” says Copeland. “In a moment shaped by rapid change, church leaders’ role in helping people slow down, think critically and engage wisely becomes even more essential.”

The State of the Church continues to publish monthly research, with new trends in Faith & AI releasing throughout 2026. Explore the 2025 catalog and more.