Keune's research began with a nagging question: could someone come to a saving faith in Christ based on their interactions with an AI? This simple question led to a thoroughgoing investigation of linguistics and hermeneutics and the criteria that an AI would need to satisfy. The result is a linguistic, hermeneutic, ethical, and sacramental investigation stressing the importance of the story formed community in authenticating performances of Christian faith. This work outlines the case that current AI systems are capable of inferential semantics. As a result, they can produce texts which are perceived as meaningful. Many hermeneutic and linguistic theories therefore are unable to help differentiate an AI from a human generated text, which can lead to problematically unqualified conclusions. The effective qualification of these conclusions can be provided by grounding hermeneutics in the narrative theology of a story formed community.

Nicholas Alan Keune has worked in the applied machine learning and AI space since 2011. He has an MS in management from RPI and is scheduled to complete his MATS in theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2026. He combines his passion for theology and AI by leading Prompted to Proclaim, a consultancy focused on enabling church leaders to engage with AI in a theologically rooted manner.