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Tired of talking past each other on contentious topics? Want an honest dialogue with each other to work out how to follow Jesus in divided times? 

In 2024, each new month seems to bring some fresh scandal of broken leadership. Narcissism, toxicity, and power abuse have become wearingly familiar terms to many of us – not only through stories we see at a distance, but often through our own first-hand experiences of problematic leadership in organisations, workplaces, and even churches.

Many of us are asking how we can begin to process and respond to this, especially when we ourselves don’t necessarily seem to possess the power to effect change. How can we make sense of what’s going on? And how can we begin to formulate fresh ways of thinking, acting, and speaking?

Professor John Wyatt on growing and protecting authentic relationships in an AI-saturated world. 

In 2024, AI-simulated relationships are increasingly being promoted for therapy, care, education, amusement, and even romance. A growing tide of loneliness and isolation and a pervasive sense of relational deficiency provide a context in which simulated companionship can appear a compelling solution. Frictionless, unfailingly positive, and consistent, the AI companion seems increasingly preferable to the messy and unpredictable reality of human interactions and bonds. 

What kind of world are we creating for the future, and what will it mean for those of us who wish to be faithful to our Christian calling? How do we respond to our call to make disciples in an AI-saturated world, and what opportunities and challenges does AI open up when it comes to helping people follow the way of Jesus in the 21st Century?  

In the 2024 John Stott London Lecture, John Wyatt, Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics, Ethics, and Perinatology at University College London, and author of The Robot Will See You Now and Transforming Friendship, will consider how AI may be redeemed from destructive and addictive tendencies and harnessed to support the nurturing and formation of Christian disciples for the future.