Faith leaders

Johnnie Moore

President of JDA Worldwide; evangelical leader

4 records

Records

We should rapidly develop powerful AI tools that help cure diseases and solve practical problems, but not autonomous smarter-than-human machines that nobody knows how to control. Creating superintelligent machines is not only unacceptably dangerous and immoral, but also completely unnecessary.

Johnnie Moore

President of JDA Worldwide; evangelical leader

In a March 2026 Future of Life Institute press release announcing a statement he signed, Johnnie Moore said we should rapidly develop powerful AI tools that cure diseases and solve practical problems “but not autonomous smarter-than-human machines that nobody knows how to control,” calling superintelligent machines “unacceptably dangerous and immoral” and “completely unnecessary.”

evangelical leaderPublished March 27, 2026 · date of remarks not establishedFuture of Life Institute press release

Source Archived

Context and checks

Surrounding words

We must act with both ambition and responsibility by choosing the path of human-centred AI that serves dignity and justice.” Johnnie Moore: “We should rapidly develop powerful AI tools that help cure diseases and solve practical problems, but not autonomous smarter-than-human machines that nobody knows how to control. Creating superintelligent machines is not only unacceptably dangerous and immoral, but also completely unnecessary.” Joseph Gordon-Levitt: “Yeah, we want specific AI tools that can help cure diseases, strengthen national security, etc.

What this quote does not say

No recording or person-controlled publication of the quotation was located.
The issuer page does not state when or how Moore supplied the quotation.

How this was checked

Quote matched character-for-character against the captured page.

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an AI reviewer that read the whole source · an automatic character-by-character check

There are risks that require moral leaders to demand our political leaders protect us. We want AI to give us new tools to improve the world, maximizing the potential of this technology, but we want those tools always under human control.

Johnnie Moore

President of JDA Worldwide; evangelical leader

In an April 2025 Deseret Magazine essay, Johnnie Moore wrote that there are AI risks “that require moral leaders to demand our political leaders protect us” and that AI tools should be “always under human control.”

President of JDA Worldwide and member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council for Faith in ActionPublished April 15, 2025 · date of remarks not establishedDeseret Magazine

Source Archived

Context and checks

Surrounding words

Scientists are profoundly religious in their commitment to ideologies that guide how they engage in this age of intelligence. There are risks that require moral leaders to demand our political leaders protect us. We want AI to give us new tools to improve the world, maximizing the potential of this technology, but we want those tools always under human control. At the same time, these religious warnings mustn’t devolve into “the world is flat” pronouncements.

What this quote does not say

The passage calls for political protection but does not specify a statute, agency, or enforcement mechanism.
The very next sentence of the same essay qualifies the warning: “At the same time, these religious warnings mustn’t devolve into ‘the world is flat’ pronouncements.”

How this was checked

Quote matched character-for-character against the captured page.

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an AI reviewer that read the whole source · an automatic character-by-character check

At the same time, these religious warnings mustn’t devolve into “the world is flat” pronouncements. No, they would provide a guiding hand, and sometimes a gut check, to those who are leading us into this profound new period of human history.

Johnnie Moore

President of JDA Worldwide; evangelical leader

In an April 2025 Deseret Magazine essay, Johnnie Moore wrote that religious warnings about AI “mustn’t devolve into ‘the world is flat’ pronouncements” and should instead provide “a guiding hand, and sometimes a gut check” to those leading the technology.

President of JDA Worldwide and member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council for Faith in ActionPublished April 15, 2025 · date of remarks not establishedDeseret Magazine

Source Archived

Context and checks

Surrounding words

There are risks that require moral leaders to demand our political leaders protect us. We want AI to give us new tools to improve the world, maximizing the potential of this technology, but we want those tools always under human control. At the same time, these religious warnings mustn’t devolve into “the world is flat” pronouncements. No, they would provide a guiding hand, and sometimes a gut check, to those who are leading us into this profound new period of human history. Simply put: Corporate boards and universities need to find faith again, for their own good, before the age of intelligence leaves us all to contend with whatever it has decided to create for us based upon how we designed it.

What this quote does not say

The phrase is a rhetorical qualification, not a recantation of any specific earlier risk claim.
It predates the March 2026 superintelligence quotation and therefore should not be described as a later walk-back.

How this was checked

Quote matched character-for-character against the captured page.

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an AI reviewer that read the whole source · an automatic character-by-character check

Statements they signed

FROM THE SIGNED STATEMENT

Like drugs, chatbots must undergo pre-deployment testing for increased suicidal ideation, exacerbation of mental health disorders, escalation of acute crisis situations, and other known harms.

Signed statement: “Pro-Human AI Declaration” (FLI/broad coalition)

Johnnie Moore

President of JDA Worldwide; evangelical leader

Signed as part of a group statement. Not spoken.

Johnnie Moore was listed as a signer of the “Pro-Human AI Declaration,” which called for human control over AI and independent safety standards.

President, The Congress of Christian LeadersDate not establishedPro-Human AI Declaration

Source Archived

Context and checks

Surrounding words

of Responsive Law, Presidential candidate Daron Acemoğlu Nobel Laureate in Economics, MIT Institute Professor Joseph-Gordon Levitt Actor, Filmmaker, Founder, HITRECORD Beatrice Fihn Nobel Peace Laureate, Founder of Lex International Rev. Johnnie Moore, PhD President, The Congress of Christian Leaders Margarita Louis Dreyfus Human Change Foundation, Owner and chair of the Louis Dreyfus Company group, founder of Human Change Foundation Sir Richard Branson Founder, Virgin Group Randi

What this quote does not say

Johnnie Moore appears once under “Individual endorsers” as “Rev. Johnnie Moore, PhD”; the roster's wording is “President, The Congress of Christian Leaders.”

How this was checked

The organiser's own roster lists this person as a signer.

Reviewed by

an AI reviewer that read the whole source