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In the world of artificial intelligence (AI), Greg Cootsona, MDiv ’91, is not only a force for good, but he’s also a force for God.
He has been a leading voice in the national conversation about the intersection between faith and science, from co-founding a nonprofit that strives to use science as a resource for spiritual growth, to leading multimillion-dollar, grant-funded projects exploring the integration of science and Christianity.
Recently, Cootsona was appointed executive director of AI and Faith, an organization that hopes to use the fundamental values of the world’s major religions to shape emerging debates about the ethical development of AI-related technologies.
In the secular space, alarm bells have been ringing, particularly in the last year, about the emergence of AI and all its attendant risks — most notably job loss, societal anxiety, and the potential emergence of a super intelligence that might supplant humans. Once the province of science fiction, AI is here and its growth is exponential. However, Cootsona remains grounded in hope.
“AI is not just a technical issue. It’s a human one,” Cootsona said. “If faith can help shape it toward compassion and wisdom, that’s work worth doing.”
Cootsona grew up in the Bay Area, near what would eventually become Silicon Valley, in a loving, yet nonreligious family. As an engineer, his father’s innate scientific intrigue inspired Cootsona’s own appreciation of the natural, physical world.
“I learned from him early on a joy of understanding how the world works,” he said. “I think of that as such a great part of science. Every person I’ve ever met who’s become a scientist has had some experience with the natural world. So, when I became a Christian, science was really interesting for me.”
Cootsona’s journey to Christianity began in college at the University of California, Berkeley, “which kind of sounds like a punchline,” he joked.
He became involved in the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, a vibrant congregation that marked his introduction to Presbyterianism. It would also lead him, eventually, to Princeton Theological Seminary. “Our senior pastor, Earl Palmer, MDiv ’56, was on the Board of Trustees at Princeton Seminary, and he just loved the place. I was thinking of getting my master’s of divinity degree and he talked it up to me.”
Unsure if his future in ministry lay as a pastor or in academia, Cootsona appreciated “the combination of the intellectual rigor and the pastoral preparation” Princeton Seminary provided, as well as its emphasis on encouraging the distinctiveness within each of its students.
“I really loved my time at Princeton. I think of the three different degrees I’ve done, and the part that I loved most about Princeton in comparison was it being residential. You were engaging with other students — what they were thinking, what they were working with, as well as their own drive to learn and serve the church. That was powerful to me.”
At the Seminary, Cootsona did three years of field education, which, not having grown up in the church, was essential to his development. “I had been a Christian about seven and a half years by then but felt like I was behind my peers who had been there since the cradle. Being able to gain experience working in the church was important.”
Cootsona pursued his doctorate with a focus on theology and science at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and worked part-time in a few Presbyterian churches.
His first pastoral call came at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, where the culture “engaged in things like science and other kinds of human thought and life outside of theology. It was the life outside of the church where I got this sense these two can’t go together. Because I was trying to make my faith reasonable and robust, I had to begin to address those challenges. That put me on a path of trying to see what science really does in relationship to faith.”
In 2019, Cootsona co-founded the nonprofit Science for the Church, which aims to strengthen the church through its engagement with science. Throughout his career, he’s led similar projects, including Science and Theology for Emerging Adult Ministries, Science for Students and Emerging Young Adults, and Scientists in Congregations. He also teaches in religion, humanities, philosophy, and sociology at California State University, Chico, and is a well-respected author and speaker on the topics.
Cootsona says one of the key reasons 18- to 30-year-olds were leaving the church was because of their engagement with science and their impression was that the Christian faith was “anti-science.” But one of his grant-funded projects found an encouraging connection, “85 percent of the people responded by saying that when they studied science, they grew in their faith. It wasn’t just that they grew in understanding science, they grew in understanding their faith.”
Surrounded by rationality and secularism in his youth, Cootsona finds it easy to engage with those who are dubious about faith and religion. “Some of the most thoughtful interactions I’ve had have been with people who say, ‘You’re a thoughtful person who is [also] a Christian. Tell me about that.’”
He added, “I don’t have those issues as deeply embedded in me. I wasn’t this super devout person who saw their deep devotion to their faith presenting roadblocks to modern science. With those people, I always emphasized our common faith in Jesus Christ. That is still the most important value I have. What helps people in that conversation engage is when they see that I am not a person who’s giving up the faith to engage with science.”
The chance to join forces with AI and Faith was a “Kairos moment” for Cootsona — a pivotal, God-given opportunity to influence the way AI is developed in the US. “I want to see if there’s a way we could be helpful in bringing the ethics of religions and theological ethics to the development of AI.”
Cootsona has a number of goals for this multi-faith organization, including the promotion of responsible AI use, human dignity, and equitable data representation, and to develop curriculum resources for churches to utilize in their congregations.
“We want to protect privacy, and care for our youth when using AI. We want to ensure that there’s ethical outworking of AI that doesn’t de-privilege the voices of underrepresented groups,” he said.
AI and Faith constantly fosters dialogue with its constituents both nationally and internationally, from its bi-weekly podcast that invites experts in the field to discuss issues pertaining to AI, to training seminars for Christian organizations, like a recent session for 1,300 leaders at the World Evangelical Alliance’s General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea.
Cootsona’s global advocacy has influenced his pastoral mission. His congregation at Bidwell Presbyterian Church in Chico, California, is well versed in the subject of AI. As an associate pastor, Cootsona often works AI into his sermons and teaches classes for interested parties.
Cootsona is not naïve to the challenges posed by AI — such as privacy erosion, economic displacement, and ecological cost — nor the trepidation many feel toward it.
“I think anybody who looks at AI can see that there are things to be concerned about and create guidelines and guardrails against its misuse.”
But he does not see the future in dire terms.
“There’s a lot of fear about where this is heading,” Cootsona said. “But if we bring faith, reason, and humility into the conversation, I think there’s every reason for hope.”
