CURRENT RESEARCH 2026 - 

AI Policy in
Theological Education

Beyond Academic Integrity
Rethinking AI policy through formation, discernment, authority, responsibility, and the purposes of theological education.
01 THE RESEARCH QUESTION
What happens when AI helps us accomplish an educational activity — but changes the very formation that activity was intended to produce?
As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in theological education, policies need to address more than plagiarism, assessment, and permitted use...

This research begins with a deeper question: What is theological education ultimately for? It examines AI-mediated activities in relation to the purposes of theological education and asks how AI may affect the formation of judgment, discernment, authority, responsibility, and practice.
02 Beyond Academic Integrity
From compliance to purpose
Current AI policies in education often focus on rules, risks and detection. A telos-oriented approach asks deeper questions about what education is for and how AI shapes that purpose.
Conventional AI Policy
* Can students use AI?
* Is this plagiarism?
* Must AI use be disclosed?
* Is the output accurate?
* Was the rule followed?
Telos-Oriented AI Policy
* What is this activity for?
* What formation should occur?
* What does AI change?
* How is discernment affected?
* Is AI use aligned with the educational telos?
03 Research Framework
From compliance to purpose
AI in theological education must be evaluated in relation to its deeper purposes. This research uses four interrelated dimensions.
FORMATION
Who are learners becoming?
How does AI-mediated activity affect habits, character, relationships, and the formative processes of theological education?
DISCERNMENT
How is judgment being formed?
Does AI strengthen reflection and theological judgment, or substitute for the practices through which discernment develops?
AUTHORITY
Whom do learners learn to trust?
How does AI alter relationships among Scripture, tradition, teachers, communities, expertise, and algorithmic synthesis?
INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Who remains accountable?
What responsibilities do institutions retain when AI becomes embedded in teaching, learning, assessment, and research?
04 Alignment & Misalignment
When successful assistance moves us away from our purpose
05 HOW MISALIGNMENT HAPPENS
Six common mechanisms
AI can introduce misalignment in different ways. These six mechanisms help identify where and how the deeper purpose of education may be affected.
1
Resource Competition
AI redirects attention, time and effort away from formative practices.
2
Process Replacement
AI substitutes for practices through which judgment and skill are developed.
3
Responsibility Transfer
Responsibility for judgment is shifted from learners and teachers to AI systems.
4
Goal Substitution
Easier completion becomes the goal, displacing deeper educational aims.
5
Dependency Formation
Reliance on AI reduces opportunities to struggle, reflect and grow.
6
Authority Migration
Trust moves from established theological sources to algorithmic outputs.
06 RESEARCH APPROACH
From Purpose to Practice
Our research brings together higher education guidance, theological education literature, institutional policies, and concrete educational scenarios to assess how AI-mediated activities align with the purposes of theological education.
Educational &
Theological Literature
Foundations and
teloi
Institutional
Telos
Mission and
educational purpose
AI Policies
Institutional
frameworks
Activity
Mapping
Key learning
activities
AI-mediated
Change
What is altered?
Alignment
Evaluation
Aligned or
misaligned?
07 CURRENT RESEARCH
Active Workstreams
We are currently pursuing several streams of research, combining policy analysis, comparative institutional study, scenario evaluation, and research instrument development.
Dependency Formation
Trust moves from established theological sources to algorithmic outputs.
Institutional Cases
Comparing institutional approaches to identify patterns, boundaries, assumptions, and emerging practices.
Scenario Lab
Testing concrete AI-mediated educational activities against institutional and theological teloi to explore possible alignment and misalignment.
Research Instruments
Developing frameworks, surveys, codebooks, and evaluation tools for ongoing research and wider use.
08 RELAted research
Part of a Larger Research Program
This project is one part of a broader program of research on AI, theology, and Christian eduction.
Copyright © Hermas Lo