US Christians turn to artificial intelligence to stop porn use

Christians turn to artificial intelligence to stop porn use. — Dreamstime/TNS

Evangelical groups in the US are turning to artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to help their members fight addiction to online pornography in a budding industry that one scholar calls an emerging "purity-industrial complex".

As pornography has exploded beyond just websites to apps and social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr and others, tech companies closely affiliated with church groups are capitalising on the fears of devout Christians that "porn is the greatest threat to Christian purity and even the moral standard of the nation", said Samuel Perry, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma and author of Addicted To Lust.