The leader of a Christian ministry that built its own artificial intelligence application to guide users in their spiritual journey warns companies developing AI systems need to implement «ethical guidelines» to ensure their technology doesn’t harm people.

Ligonier Ministries President and CEO Chris Larson says the true highest intelligence is God and shared a new tool his group created to help answer questions people may have from a faith-based perspective.

«It’s interesting that [President Donald Trump] even referred to artificial intelligence now as ‘superintelligence,’» Larson told Digital. «Of course, Christians — and, really, all of us — have access to the ‘superintelligece,’ the one who has created the universe.»

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The mission of the Florida-based organization, founded by the late Christian theologian R.C. Sproul, is to proclaim, teach and defend the holiness of God «in all its fullness to as many people as possible.»

Part of accomplishing that mission was building an app that the organization calls Grow.

«It’s dedicated to helping Christians to better understand the Bible and theology and to go deeper in their faith, put down roots, if you will,» Larson said of the new tool. «And, so, this app has 50 years of teaching in it from more than 800 different teachers, of course, grounded in Dr. R.C. Sproul’s lifetime of teaching.»

The app draws from a library of tens of thousands of pieces of content to help users in their faith journey looking to obtain answers to critical questions.

Inside Grow is an «intelligent answer assistant» that can answer questions from users from a faith-based perspective.

But building Grow for Christian users required putting a great deal of thought into the ethics of the model, Larson explained.

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«Now, it’s not trying to pretend it’s a person or anything like that. It is just trained on our library, and then helping Christians to trust the answers, and [it] will only go so far,» he said. 

«And, again, I think that’s an important guard as well. Because, for us, making sure that we have trusted theological answers and that the intelligent answer assistant is acting with integrity and not going outside of that.»

When users push the boundaries of the application, it directs them to real human support, a feature most large language model AI tools refuse to implement.

«And, so, we’ve given it a sandbox to work within. And any time that somebody tries to push it beyond the borders, we’re going to deflect or defer to a real human. Imagine that,» Larson said.

For example, if a user discusses suicide in Grow, the intelligent answer assistant will direct them to the suicide hotline or other real-world resources.

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Over the past several years, there have been a flurry of suicide deaths that victims’ family members say AI chatbots were at least partially responsible. 

In one case from last year, a teenager named Adam Raine died by suicide after months of discussing his suicidal thoughts on ChatGPT. According to a lawsuit from his parents, the chatbot provided him information about methods of suicide, validated aspects of planning the suicide and offered to help him draft a suicide note. OpenAI, ChatGPT’s parent company, disputes the characterization and says the chatbot directed him to crisis resources multiple times.

«So, we understood that it’s important to provide safety guardrails, but also we did not want this intelligent answer assistant to pretend that it was a person,» Larson said. «We don’t want it to take the place of a pastor or a local church elder or even a parent.»

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Larson said companies developing AI need to consider guardrails for their technology.

«Anybody developing AI tools today needs to think through ethical guidelines, and that’s more of the self-regulation and guardrails that we’ve been talking about,» he said.

«I think there’s a real concern today because you have great power that’s been entrusted to these different companies, and they’re not really disclosing their worldview,» he continued. «How do they know right from wrong?»

For Ligonier, the absolute truth upon which its AI model is built is the Christian faith.

«How are you determining what is right and wrong? As Christians, we believe we have a true answer — a source that we can turn to.»

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

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El presidente de Honduras, Nasry Asfura, ordenó priorizar el pago de aproximadamente US$1.85 millones que el Instituto Hondureño de Mercadeo Agrícola (IHMA) adeuda a productores de frijol que entregaron sus cosechas a la institución, confirmó el titular de la Secretaría de Agricultura y Ganadería (SAG), Moisés Molina.

El funcionario reconoció que la deuda continúa pendiente y explicó que las limitaciones presupuestarias afectaron el cumplimiento de distintas obligaciones del Gobierno, luego de que se destinaran recursos para atender los efectos de la sequía.

El compromiso de pago se mantiene y las autoridades esperan entregar próximamente el dinero a los agricultores.

Molina también informó que la junta directiva del IHMA trabaja en modificaciones para mejorar el funcionamiento de la institución, especialmente en los mecanismos de comercialización de los granos básicos y la rotación de los inventarios.

El titular de la SAG explicó que la deuda se mantiene desde la salida del anterior titular del instituto y señaló que la disponibilidad limitada de fondos incidió en el cumplimiento de varias responsabilidades gubernamentales.

Según Molina, la instrucción del presidente Asfura es dar prioridad a este pago, con el objetivo de que los productores reciban el dinero por el grano que entregaron. No obstante, el funcionario no precisó una fecha exacta para completar el desembolso.

El cumplimiento de esta obligación es relevante para los agricultores que dependen de los ingresos de sus cosechas y necesitan recuperar el dinero correspondiente a las entregas realizadas al Estado.

Además del pago pendiente, las autoridades analizan cambios para facilitar las operaciones comerciales del IHMA. Molina explicó que las restricciones legales para vender frijol a instituciones distintas de Banasupro dificultan la salida de los inventarios y limitan las opciones de comercialización.

La junta directiva trabaja en alternativas que permitan agilizar el funcionamiento de la institución y mejorar la rotación de los productos almacenados.

La intención es facilitar las ventas a otras entidades, aunque el ministro no detalló cuáles serían los cambios legales o administrativos que se aplicarían ni cuándo entrarían en vigor.

El IHMA cumple funciones relacionadas con el mercadeo agrícola, por lo que sus decisiones sobre la compra y venta de granos básicos tienen incidencia en la relación con los productores y en el abastecimiento del mercado hondureño.

Molina afirmó que la SAG mantiene vigilancia sobre la disponibilidad de frijol para cubrir el consumo nacional y advirtió que, si la producción hondureña resulta insuficiente, el país recurrirá a importaciones.

“Estamos alerta porque si en algún momento no logramos tener la producción que se necesita para suplir el consumo, lo vamos a traer de donde sea necesario”, declaró el secretario.

El funcionario no anunció una importación inmediata ni especificó cantidades o países de procedencia. Su declaración plantea la posibilidad de recurrir al mercado internacional si la producción nacional no alcanza para satisfacer la demanda.

La decisión dependería de las necesidades de abastecimiento y de la disponibilidad de producto. Por ahora, el ministro indicó que las autoridades permanecen atentas a la capacidad de producción para garantizar el suministro del grano.

Durante sus declaraciones, Molina también se refirió a las versiones sobre un posible acuerdo para incrementar el precio de los huevos entre noviembre y enero.

El secretario aseguró que la SAG no participa en esas negociaciones y manifestó desconocer si existe una conversación entre los avicultores y la Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico.

Molina explicó que los precios de los huevos pueden experimentar variaciones por factores relacionados con la oferta y la demanda.

Entre ellos mencionó el aumento del consumo y la reducción de las horas de luz, una condición que puede disminuir temporalmente la postura de las gallinas.

Sin embargo, el funcionario no confirmó que exista un acuerdo oficial para elevar los precios durante esos meses ni anunció medidas específicas sobre el comportamiento del mercado.

corresponsal:Desde Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has tapped two high-powered Washington, D.C.-based attorneys who have previously represented elected officials at the highest echelon of American politics.

Amid dueling federal investigations — one for immigration fraud and another for financial disclosure discrepancies — the embattled Somali-born lawmaker hired Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz, according to a CBS report. Both are partners at Hecker Fink LLP.

The attorneys have in the past represented Democrat clients and taken on left-leaning cases especially those taking aim at President Donald Trump, his administration and his supporters.

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Jeffress is a former federal prosecutor whose biography says she tried more than 40 cases during a decade in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia, where she was chief of the National Security Section. She has also been a Department of Justice (DOJ) attaché.

She served as former President Joe Biden’s attorney in his lawsuit against the DOJ earlier this year. In that case, Biden sought to halt the release of audio recordings between himself and his «Promise Me, Dad» book ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer. 

The audio was recorded in 2016 and 2017 and was subject to a FOIA request from the Heritage Foundation in 2024.

It was cited during special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into whether Biden illegally retained classified information from his term as vice president and piqued the interest of conservatives demanding answers about Biden’s mental acuity.

The court declined to block the release of the recordings, in which Biden had frequent memory lapses, and they were made public in July.

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Before her time at Hecker Fink, Jeffress, a 1992 Yale Law graduate, served as counsel for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat-led House January 6 committee, which spent two years investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. She represented the committee when it was sued by a Trump campaign spokesperson, Taylor Budowich, after the committee subpoenaed his bank records.

Jeffress also represented Trump foe and former FBI attorney Lisa Page, a key figure in the left’s Russiagate conspiracy theory, during congressional scrutiny into the FBI’s handling of the matter. Page later sued the DOJ for releasing her text messages with her FBI colleague and lover at the time, Peter Strzok.

In the messages, Strzok assuaged Page’s concerns that Trump would become president by vowing that the FBI would stop it and referred to an «insurance policy» against his presidency. That case was settled in 2024.

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Jeffress is married to U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper of the District of Washington, D.C., who in May ruled that it was illegal for the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center to add Trump’s name. Trump publicly criticized Cooper as «highly conflicted» due to his relationship with Jeffress.

Matz is also a partner at Hecker Fink. He graduated from Harvard Law and clerked for former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

«Joshua’s practice has long included a focus on democracy and elections,» his biography page says.

He represented the state of Pennsylvania in defending the certification of its election results, including arguing before the Supreme Court.

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He was counsel to House Democrats during both failed impeachment attempts against Trump during his first term in office.

Matz also represented E. Jean Carroll in two separate civil cases against Trump related to his denial of her sexual assault claims against him. He was never criminally charged. In 2022, Carroll accused Trump of defaming her in his denial of her account of an incident she claims happened in 1996. A New York jury found Trump liable for defamation and for sexual assault.

Prior to that case, in 2019, a jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million for defamation stemming from other comments made by Trump.

Matz represented students, parents and teachers who opposed Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, which his biography describes as the «Don’t Say Gay» law, which restricted teaching students about sexual orientation and gender identity.

He also successfully represented Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear when he was sued for COVID-19 lockdowns, including school closures, and victims of the 2017 «Unite the Right» rally in Charlottesville.

Now, Matz and Jeffress are representing Omar as she seeks to battle two federal probes. In a video message posted to her social media earlier this month, the lawmaker pleaded with her supporters to keep sending money, noting that her fight against the investigations would be costly.

Omar’s attorneys did not respond to Digital’s request for comment. Neither did the White House.

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