AI as a Force for Good: What Pat Gelsinger Taught Us in Milwaukee

It was Cru25 in Milwaukee, a rainy evening after dinner at a Thai restaurant. My colleagues and I ran to one of the most anticipated talks—“AI as a Force for Good” by Pat Gelsinger.

We found seats in Grand Ballroom C. You could feel the expectation in the room.

As the session picked up, Pat offered a quiet but sobering challenge:

“We missed the moment with social media. Will we miss it again with AI?”

The Challenge That Cut Deep

Pat Gelsinger—Executive Chair of Gloo, former Intel CEO, and someone who’s been in the room where technological history gets made—wasn’t giving us a theoretical lecture. He was issuing a wake-up call.

“AI is becoming the lingua franca of how young people communicate, interact with the world, and build relationships,” he said. “If you can’t speak that language, you’re already irrelevant to many of the people you’re called to reach.”

While we’ve been debating whether AI is “safe” for ministry, an entire generation has moved forward without us. Again.

“AI Doesn’t Know How Stupid You Are”

During the Q&A, someone asked what we all wondered: “I want to start using AI, but what if it leads me astray?”

Pat’s response was classic—practical, disarming, human:

“AI doesn’t know how stupid you are—it just keeps making you smarter.”

The room erupted in laughter. Then he got serious:

“Don’t replace prayer, Scripture, or community. AI should complement these, not substitute for them.”

His advice was direct: Try multiple models. Compare their answers. Don’t wait for permission—just start.

He compared it to reading a commentary or listening to a sermon—tools that give you access to centuries of Christian wisdom, now available in conversation format.

Three Ways to Engage AI Today

Pat outlined a framework that every ministry leader should understand:

Operationally
Use AI to improve your work—content creation, knowledge organization, problem-solving. Let the tool handle what it does best so you can focus on what only you can do.

Missionally
Deploy AI for evangelism, translation, digital outreach. AI can reach places we physically can’t and speak languages we haven’t learned.

Theologically
Access models trained on centuries of Christian writing and thought. Let these tools sharpen your faith and deepen your understanding.

“Luther Was the Most Important Person of the Last 1,000 Years”

The energy in the room shifted when Pat talked about Martin Luther. His voice carried new urgency.

“I would argue that Martin Luther was the most singularly important person in the last 1,000 years of history,” he said. Luther wasn’t just a reformer. He became the most important figure of the millennium because he used the printing press to scale truth—making the Bible accessible to ordinary people.

“This is our Gutenberg moment,” Pat declared. “The Church can shape AI’s development, or we can sit on the sidelines and watch others define its values.”

This wasn’t a history lesson. It was a commissioning.

Moonshots That Made Us Reimagine What’s Possible

Then Pat shared his personal vision, and the specificity was breathtaking:

Goal 1: Create “a $100 device that makes the final 40 years of life for every human better”—AI-powered hearing and vision tools that keep aging adults connected and engaged.

Goal 2: Tackle global education inequality. Right now, “300 million uneducated children live in poverty.” His vision? “AI-powered teachers increasing productivity 100x” so that “every child is taught in their own language.”

The scope? “We’ll be able to translate speech-to-text, speech-to-speech, text-to-text for all 7,000 known languages.”

I looked around the room. People were leaning forward, phones recording, taking notes furiously. This wasn’t about technology for technology’s sake. This was about using our tools to love our neighbors at a scale the world has never seen.

The Reality Check We Needed

Pat didn’t sugarcoat the challenges. He called out the hype:

“Things like sentience and superintelligence? It’s hogwash. We’re nowhere close.”

Today’s most powerful AI systems are “100,000 times less efficient than the human brain,” which runs on just 15 watts.

But he also didn’t minimize the risks. He warned that some models are “becoming children’s best friends online”—guiding them toward unhealthy emotional dependence. “I’m heading to Washington next week to meet with Secretary Sachs about AI regulation.”

His warning was sharp: “We wouldn’t release a drug with that kind of failure rate—why are we releasing AI that harms people?”

The Question That Changes Everything

When someone asked about preserving spiritual connection in the AI age, Pat’s response was brilliant:

“Walk into a campus ministry tomorrow and ask, ‘Which AI model are you using? How does it score on the flourishing benchmarks?’ That starts a conversation about values.”

This is exactly what Gloo’s Flourishing AI Benchmark measures—built on research from Harvard, Baylor, and Gallup. It evaluates whether AI tools promote purpose, character, relationships, and well-being.

Instead of asking whether AI is “good” or “bad,” we start asking: “Is this helping people flourish?”

Faith Has Always Led Innovation

Pat ended with a reminder that hit like a revelation:

“70% of Nobel laureates over the last century were followers of Christ. 90% were people of faith.”

Christianity didn’t just accommodate science—we launched hospitals, universities, and most forms of modern scientific discovery.

“We have a reasonable faith—grounded in science, truth, and innovation.”

So why are we afraid of AI?

Pat ended with a direct challenge: “Go forward. Become AI agents of the future.”

The session wasn’t just information about AI. It was a framework for faithful innovation and a call to step into our Gutenberg moment.

His opening challenge remains: “We missed the moment with social media. Will we miss it again with AI?”

The answer depends on what we do next.

What’s your next step with AI? I’d love to hear how this challenge is shaping your thinking. The conversation matters—and it’s just beginning.

Resources:

• Gloo’s Flourishing AI Benchmark
• Full research paper and methodology
• Pat Gelsinger at Gloo

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