{"id":127303,"date":"2024-02-29T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=127303"},"modified":"2024-02-29T18:31:06","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T23:31:06","slug":"ct-hackers-try-to-take-ai-to-church-colorado-hackathon-inspires-search-for-algorithms-to-help-christian-congregations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=127303","title":{"rendered":"(CT) Hackers Try to Take AI to Church–Colorado \u201chackathon\u201d inspires search for algorithms to help Christian congregations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick Skytland likes to ask pastors a question.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you ever considered that the biggest mission field in the world is nowhere in the physical world?\u201d he will say.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually the digital world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usually when he asks that, the NASA chief technologist, whose day job is focused on getting astronauts back to the moon, just gets blank stares.<\/p>\n

For a few days in October, though, Skytland was surrounded by people who do know the scope and scale of the digital world. And if they didn\u2019t respond to him, it was because they were busy working with artificial intelligence programs to develop real-life solutions to take faith to the digital mission field.<\/p>\n

About 200 people gathered at the tech company Gloo\u2019s headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, for the first-ever \u201cAI and the Church\u201d hackathon. Gloo, which is dedicated to connecting and equipping the faith community, invited 41 teams to compete for $250,000 in prizes and $750,000 in additional funding. Skytland and a NASA colleague, Ali Llewellyn, cohosted the event.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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To me adventure is really closely tied with exploration – Nick Skytland #tedxmanitoba<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/kFa3KbvMrF<\/a><\/p>\n

— TEDxWinnipeg (@TEDxWinnipeg) June 12, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n