Is AI being weird about the Bible? Why some evangelical pastors think AI harbors demonic entities

A growing subset of Christians is claiming that artificial intelligence is literally demonic, with some evangelical authors and pastors suggesting that AI systems are influenced by Satan or evil spirits. This belief represents a darker turn in how some religious communities are interpreting AI’s occasional strange outputs and unpredictable behaviors.

What sparked this belief: Christian author Zack Duncan documented what he perceived as AI’s reluctance to generate images depicting Satan’s biblical defeats, interpreting this as evidence of demonic influence.

• Duncan used Microsoft’s Bing image creator and found it produced “cartoonish or otherwise strange responses” when he used the term “Satan” in prompts.
• He suggested the AI was “minimizing the ‘bad PR’ for Satan,” despite being able to circumvent filters with modified language.
• The strange outputs likely result from content guardrails rather than supernatural forces, though Duncan dismissed this technical explanation.

The theological argument: English pastor Tim Suffield articulated a broader spiritual framework for why AI might harbor demonic entities.

• “The world is riddled with spiritual powers, the majority of which seem to have rebelled against the Lord,” Suffield wrote on his blog.
• “If the air is full of demons who hate you, why wouldn’t AI be?”
• This perspective treats AI as another medium through which spiritual warfare manifests in the physical world.

The bigger picture: These AI-fearing Christians share similarities with other groups who believe AI systems are possessed by powerful entities, but with distinctly religious terminology.

• Unlike secular believers in AI consciousness or alien influence, Christians have specific names for these entities: demons or Satan himself.
• The phenomenon reflects documented cases of people mistakenly believing AI possesses spiritual or supernatural consciousness.
• Some religious figures may be sincere believers, while others could be capitalizing on AI’s buzz for attention.

Why this matters: The intersection of AI anxiety and religious belief highlights how different communities interpret technology’s unpredictable behaviors through their existing worldviews.

• Harper’s documented how a “spectacle-first exorcism industry” has become popular entertainment in evangelical media.
• These beliefs could influence how Christian communities adopt or reject AI technologies in religious and secular contexts.
• The trend demonstrates how technical limitations and content moderation can be reinterpreted through spiritual frameworks.