How is artificial intelligence (AI) shaping communities of faith? How can people of faith navigate a digitally driven world?
Ninety attendees grappled with those questions at the 2024 Fall Convocation at Perkins School of Theology. With the theme, “Faith in a Digital Age,” the event took place November 14-15 on the Dallas campus of SMU, and drew clergy, engaged laypersons, community leaders, and members of the Perkins and SMU community. 
“The event brought inspiring moments of worship and reflection, as well as some truly groundbreaking discussions on faith and technology,” said Bart Patton, Assistant Dean of External Programs and Church Relations at Perkins School of Theology. “These were critical conversations on the ethics, justice, philosophy, technology, and humanity of what’s going on with artificial intelligence right now. Hearing from researchers, scholars, poets, artists, and ministry practitioners in one space offered much for reflection and compassionate consideration in how we engage with AI in our lives, our neighborhoods, our faith communities, and our world.”
Guest lecturers Cole Arthur Riley and Noreen Herzfeld presented insights addressing the ways AI might affect the ways human beings express their spirituality and connect with their faith communities. Artist Jennifer Monet Cowley created art on-site during the two-day program, which also featured breakout sessions and panel discussions as well as time for worship.
Geoffrey Moore, Darnell St. Romain, and Darrell St. Romain presented the opening worship service, offered through the lens of Black liturgical wisdom. Jay Cooper and Tyler Wallace of Violet Crown City Church, a United Methodist congregation in Austin, Texas, led and curated the closing worship experience— written entirely by generative AI.
Keynote speaker Cole Arthur Riley is a writer, poet, and the author of the New York Times bestsellers, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us and Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human. She is also the creator and writer of Black Liturgies, a project that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body. 
“Very few persons, in my judgment, speak as powerfully about reclaiming human dignity and resisting domination as Cole Arthur Riley,” said Michael Greene, Director of the Black Church/Africana House of Studies at Perkins and a moderator at the event.
Recognized as a premier scholar on Christianity and AI, keynote speaker Noreen Herzfeld is the Nicholas and Bernice Reuter Professor of Science and Religion at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict, Collegeville, Minn. She teaches courses in both the department of computer science and the department of theology at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict, reflecting her two primary research interests—the intersection of religion and technology, and religion and conflict.
“Herzfeld helped remind us that ‘nothing comes for free and is without cost,’” said Patton. “Emphasizing the ethical responsibility in partaking in any new technology was very helpful.
“With all of these unique voices and offerings brought together from a breadth of perspectives, I think our program offered content that attendees may not have access to anywhere else.”