Kids are being ‘discipled by AI’ — a Baptist pastor says he has the solution

The question as to whether or not children like to use artificial intelligence chatbots has been answered, and now it’s a question of what they are using it for.

According to recent polling, the majority of teens are using it for homework or as a search engine.

‘People’s children are being discipled by AI.’

Generating summaries, creating images, or just generic “fun” are listed in 2025 polling as the next most frequent uses. Another 10% of children ages 13 to 17 say AI does most or all of their school work.

At the same time, nearly 75% of U.S. teens said in a survey last year that they have tried out AI companions. It is that large number of American youth that Pastor Erik Reed was concerned about when he created Dominion, a theological chatbot.

“People’s children are being discipled by AI,” Reed told Baptist News. “Many young people seek out companionship or counseling from bots, and some models have been built to offer constant feedback loops of affirmation and love, giving users an addictive dopamine hit. They’re going to flatter you at every turn.”

The solution, the Southern Baptist leader said, is a competitor at the same level, in terms of functionality, that has “Christian guardrails to safeguard what it’s feeding back to people.”

The head of the Journey Church in Lebanon, Tennessee, said that AI should be brought under “the Lordship of Christ,” and thus he built the chatbot to exist only within “the authority and sovereignty of God.”

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The chatbot was trained on selected theological texts, verses, catechisms, and traditional logic, Reed stated. It is protected by internal checks and balances that the user cannot influence, which is easier said than done.

The chatbot reportedly prioritizes “first-tier issues,” defined as things that all Christians find to be true, over second-tier issues that may differ per denomination. Third-tier issues were listed as almost all politics.

A demo of the product says that everything discussed with the chatbot “happens inside an environment that filters out unbiblical counsel and keeps the focus on wisdom, holiness, and discipleship.”

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However, the demo did showcase that Dominion is capable of summarizing simple news aggregation from a 24-hour period, for example, but also that it is capable of giving advice on personal matters, which the AI presented from a religious point of view.

Co-founder Brandon Maddick describes his work as a “Christian responsibility” to shape minds in truth to counteract them being shaped by AI.

“We believe faithfulness for the Christian is to redeem AI for the glory of God,” he said.

Notably, Maddick calls his congregation “the least SBC-looking church you’ll find,” with female deacons and “Reformed-ish theology.”

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