AI Predictions, Climate Policy Rollback, and Obama’s Belief in Aliens

The Bulletin

Christianity Today

News, News Commentary, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.4 • 586 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, the CEO of AI company Anthropic spoke with The New York Times’ Ross Douthat about his predictions for the future of artificial intelligence. Notre Dame’s Meghan Sullivan joins us to discuss how we should ethically think about these ideas. Then, President Trump announced the elimination of a scientific ruling that said climate change endangered humans and the environment. Political consultant Mike Murphy stops by to discuss the effects of this huge deregulatory action. And finally, former president Barack Obama expresses his views on aliens on a podcast released last week. Russell Moore and Mike Cosper share their beliefs on aliens, in turn… kind of. REFERENCED IN THE EPISODE: Anthropic’s Chief on A.I.: ‘We Don’t Know if the Models Are Conscious’- Interesting Times with Ross Douthat Your Understanding of Calling Is About to Change Radically - Russell Moore Artificially Intelligent - The Bulletin’s mini-series on AI ABOUT THE GUESTS: Meghan Sullivan is a professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. She serves as director of the ethics Initiative and is the founding director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. She is the author of Time Biases, and The Good Life Method based on a popular introductory philosophy course she developed at Notre Dame called “God and the Good Life.” Mike Murphy is a political media consultant, and has handled strategy and advertising for more than 26 successful gubernatorial and senatorial campaigns. He served as a top campaign messaging and political strategist for Senator John McCain’s campaign in 2000, as well as for successful gubernatorial candidates Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tommy Thompson, and John Engler. In 2020 he served as a key strategist for Republican Voters Against Trump. He currently co-hosts the weekly politics podcast Hacks on Tap with David Axelrod. GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN: Join the conversation at our Substack. Find us on YouTube. Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice. ABOUT THE BULLETIN: The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today’s editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more. The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more. “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today Producer: Clarissa Moll Associate Producer: Alexa Burke Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs Music: Dan Phelps Executive Producer: Erik Petrik Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Russell Moore, inviting you to join me on The Russell Moore Show, where we look for signposts in a strange land standing fast to what really matters.
0:09.7	Every week, I talk with thinkers, artists, and leaders about faith, culture, and living a life of integrity, kingdom over culture wars, truth over tribalism, pilgrimage over partisanship, witness over winning,
0:22.3	and Christ over everything. Join us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:35.9	From Christianity Today, you're listening to The Bulletin, a podcast about the people, events, and issues that are shaping our world.
0:42.9	I'm Clarissa Mall.
0:44.2	Today, Russell Moore, Mike Cosper, and I join with guests to talk about artificial intelligence, President Trump's executive ruling on climate change, and Barack Obama's belief in aliens. Welcome to the show.
0:59.9	Last week, Dario Amadei, CEO of Anthropic, joined New York Times columnist Russ Douthit for a conversation
1:07.4	on utopian and dystopian predictions for the future of artificial intelligence.
1:12.4	We're trying to build these systems, you know, not so they can conquer the world,
1:17.5	but so that they can interface with our society and improve that society.
1:21.7	And there's a maximum rate at which that can happen if we actually want to do it in a like human and human way.
1:32.5	Joining Russell, Mike, and me for conversation today is Megan Sullivan, founding director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and Director of the Ethics Initiative at
1:36.9	the University of Notre Dame. Megan, thanks for being with us today.
1:40.8	Oh my gosh. It's such a pleasure to be with you guys.
1:43.0	How much do you think the average
1:44.7	American, the average Christian, thinks about the positives and negatives of AI? I can only report
1:51.6	from South Bend, Indiana, or the Midwest, where I live. I think it's probably different if you're in
1:55.9	New York or San Francisco, but I think 2026 has really been the singularity year for South Bend, Indiana,
2:03.4	when people were kind of thinking artificial intelligence was a science fiction phenomenon
2:07.8	or maybe a phenomenon just that business leaders need to be paying attention to.
2:12.1	And now everybody talks about it.
2:13.9	Like, you cannot go over to somebody's house for a cup of coffee without this being the topic de jour. So I think this is the year that AI jumped from being a theoretical
	...

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