Jensen Huang’s latest push centers on “sovereign AI” — the idea that nations need their own AI infrastructure, data, and models to maintain digital independence. Speaking at recent conferences, Huang argues that countries must build local AI capabilities rather than depend entirely on foreign systems, combining their unique cultural knowledge with computing power to create AI that serves their specific populations.¹
The concept resonates beyond geopolitics. It’s fundamentally about stewardship — who controls the tools that shape how people access information, make decisions, and understand their world.
The Great Commission Requires Local Infrastructure
When Jesus commissioned his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19, ESV), he wasn’t envisioning a centralized Jerusalem-based operation. The early church spread through local communities, adapting the gospel message to different cultures while maintaining core theological truth.
Huang’s sovereign AI framework mirrors this pattern. Just as the gospel needed local expression, Paul writing differently to Romans than to Corinthians, digital discipleship requires infrastructure that understands local context.
At Bible Gateway, we see this daily. Our 200+ translations serve 70+ languages precisely because discipleship isn’t one-size-fits-all. A believer in Chennai needs Tamil commentary. A pastor in São Paulo needs Portuguese study tools. A seminary student in Seoul needs Korean cross-references.
But here’s where Huang’s vision gets complicated for faith communities: sovereignty over AI systems means sovereignty over interpretation. When algorithms shape how Scripture gets searched, studied, and understood, the question becomes: who is training those models?
The Stewardship Problem Hidden in Infrastructure
“Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10, ESV). This verse cuts to the heart of why sovereign AI matters for Christian organizations.
Every search ranking, every recommendation algorithm, every content filter represents a micro-decision about what matters most. At Bible Gateway, when someone searches “love,” do we surface 1 Corinthians 13, John 3:16, or Romans 8:38-39 first? The algorithm makes that choice thousands of times daily across millions of users.
Right now, most faith-based platforms depend on external AI systems like Google’s search algorithms, Amazon’s cloud infrastructure, OpenAI’s language models. We’re essentially outsourcing discipleship decisions to secular systems trained on secular priorities.
That’s not necessarily wrong. But it’s worth examining.
What Sovereign AI Looks Like in Practice
Here’s where Huang’s framework gets practical for faith tech builders. Sovereign AI doesn’t require building everything from scratch, it requires intentional control over the pieces that matter most.
For Bible Gateway, that might mean:
- Training language models on theological texts, not just Wikipedia
- Building search algorithms that understand scriptural context, not just keyword matching
- Creating recommendation engines that prioritize spiritual growth over engagement metrics
I’m not advocating for Christian-only AI systems. The gospel spreads through engagement with the broader world. But I am suggesting we need infrastructure designed with discipleship as a first-class concern.
Consider our reading plan completion rates. When we launched plans optimized by secular engagement algorithms, completion dropped after Day 7 then users got recommendations that prioritized “interesting” content over spiritual discipline. When we rebuilt the system around formation rather than retention, completion improved 23% over six months.
The difference wasn’t the technology. It was the training data and optimization targets.
The Wisdom of Solomon Applied to AI Infrastructure
“The simple believe everything, but the prudent give thought to their steps” (Proverbs 14:15, ESV). Solomon’s wisdom about discernment applies directly to how we build AI systems.
Huang’s sovereign AI concept recognizes that different communities need different approaches to intelligence. A financial AI system optimized for Wall Street trading won’t serve a rural credit union. A healthcare AI trained on urban hospital data won’t understand rural clinic challenges.
Similarly, AI systems trained on secular content patterns won’t naturally understand spiritual formation needs. When Ethan Mollick talks about co-intelligence, he’s describing partnership between humans and AI. But what kind of partnership do we want for discipleship?
At HarperCollins Christian Publishing, we’re starting to answer that question. Not by building competing AI infrastructure, we don’t have Google’s resources, but by curating the training data and fine-tuning the outputs for spiritual formation. This is what GLOO was doing when I worked there.
Building Digital Discipleship Infrastructure
The practical implementation isn’t about creating Christian ChatGPT. It’s about ensuring the tools that shape faith formation are built with discipleship in mind.
Three areas where this matters most:
Search and Discovery: When someone searches “suffering” in our Bible study tools, do they get academic theology or pastoral care? Both have value, but the algorithm’s choice shapes the user’s spiritual journey.
Content Recommendations: Our reading plans serve 23 million annual users.² Every “what to read next” suggestion influences someone’s Bible engagement. Training those systems on spiritual formation research rather than generic engagement metrics changes everything.
Translation and Commentary: As AI-assisted translation tools proliferate, who’s ensuring theological accuracy? When AI comes for sermon prep, pastors need tools trained on sound doctrine, not just persuasive rhetoric.
The Cost of Digital Dependence
“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save” (Psalm 146:3, ESV). This psalm warns against depending entirely on external powers whether political or technological.
Huang’s sovereign AI argument recognizes that complete dependence on foreign AI systems creates vulnerability. For nations, that might mean security risks. For faith communities, it might mean theological drift.
I’m not advocating for technological isolationism. The global church benefits from shared tools and resources. But I am suggesting we need more intentionality about where our digital discipleship infrastructure comes from and how it gets trained.
Search algorithms, content curation, and user experience design are the pieces that directly shape spiritual formation and need to be understood and protected. Not because we’re better engineers, but because discipleship is our primary mission.
The Path Forward
Huang’s sovereign AI vision offers a framework, not a blueprint. For Christian product builders, the question isn’t whether to build competing infrastructure, it’s how to maintain faithful stewardship over the tools that shape discipleship.
That might mean:
- Partnering with AI providers who understand faith-based applications
- Investing in fine-tuning and training data that reflects theological priorities
- Building internal capabilities for the functions that most directly impact spiritual formation
- Creating open-source tools that serve the broader faith community
The Tower of Babel reminds us that technology without wisdom leads to confusion. Huang’s sovereign AI concept, adapted for faith communities, offers a path toward digital discipleship that serves spiritual formation rather than just technological efficiency.
The question for Christian product leaders: Are we building tools that make disciples, or are we just building tools?
¹ Jensen Huang, keynote address at COMPUTEX 2024: “Sovereign AI and the Future of Computing”
² Bible Gateway internal analytics, 2024 annual reading plan enrollment data