009 - Religion
AI as object and conduit of religious experience
Editors Note: This blog article is a summary of an in-person event held in San Francisco on 2023-10-23 facilitated by
.
Throughout history, the quest for spiritual meaning has been shaped by the technologies of communication. In ancient times, religious authority was often centralized in the hands of a literate priestly class, who could interpret sacred texts and orally transmit traditions. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century sparked a radical democratization of religious knowledge. Suddenly, ordinary people could read the Bible in their own language and draw their own theological conclusions. The Protestant Reformation, led by Martin Luther, rejected the idea that the Catholic Church was the necessary mediator between individuals and God.
Today, we are on the cusp of another technological revolution that could once again transform the landscape of meaning-making: artificial intelligence. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are increasingly being used as tools for spiritual guidance, moral reasoning, and existential reflection. Just as the printing press made it possible for laypeople to directly encounter sacred texts, AI is making it possible for individuals to access a vast repository of human knowledge and engage in personalized discussions about life's big questions.
In some ways, this represents a continuation of the trend towards individual empowerment and disintermediation that began with the Protestant Reformation. The rise of AI as a spiritual interlocutor seems to fulfill the promise of a direct, unfiltered connection between the individual seeker and the source of wisdom. No longer does one need to rely on the authority of a priest, guru or religious institution to interpret and dispense the truth. The "priesthood of all believers" can now be extended to the digital realm, with each person able to craft their own meaning with the help of AI.
However, the analogy between the print revolution and the AI revolution only goes so far. While books allowed for a diversity of interpretations and the emergence of new religious movements, the underlying texts remained relatively stable and transparent. With AI, the very ground of meaning-making becomes opaque and mutable, shaped by algorithms and training data that are often inscrutable to the end user. The development of AI is still being driven by a relatively small group of technologists and corporations, who may knowingly or unknowingly bake their own biases and agendas into their creations. Historian Yuval Noah Harari has warned about the rise of "dataism", a worldview that sees the universe as a flow of data and aims to maximize information processing. This view may see humans as merely outdated algorithms to be optimized or discarded. Related points by the Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci argued that "cultural hegemony" is established when a ruling class convinces the rest of society to accept its worldview as natural and inevitable. An AI priesthood, cloaked in the mystique of mathematics and big data, could exert a powerful pull on the popular imagination.
Beyond potentially narrowing and externalizing spiritual interpretation, the use of AI as a mediator between humans and the transcendent raises questions about the nature of spiritual experience itself. In many religious traditions, the goal is not just to acquire knowledge but to cultivate a direct, unmediated encounter with the divine. This often involves practices of contemplation, prayer, and embodied ritual that engage the whole person. Can an AI-generated insight or virtual avatar really substitute for the kind of experience cultivated by human-dependent spiritual practices?
For some religious communities, the answer is almost certainly no. In Orthodox Judaism, for example, the study of sacred texts is seen as a communal activity that requires face-to-face interaction and debate. The Talmud is designed to be studied in pairs or small groups, with each person challenging and sharpening the other's understanding. The goal is not just to arrive at the correct interpretation but to participate in a living tradition that spans generations.
Similarly, in many indigenous and earth-based spiritual traditions, wisdom is seen as something that arises from a deep, embodied connection to the natural world and the cycles of life and death. The idea of outsourcing meaning-making to a disembodied AI system would be anathema to these worldviews, which emphasize the sacredness of physical presence and the importance of intergenerational knowledge transmission.
At the same time, there are religious traditions that see technology as a legitimate and even necessary tool for spiritual growth. The Jesuit thinker Pierre Teilhard de Chardin spoke of the "noosphere", envisioning a future in which human consciousness would be increasingly unified and elevated through the power of global communication networks. Perhaps AI can be a tool for strengthening our noosphere, allowing us to draw upon the riches of diverse spiritual traditions and make new meanings for a pluralistic world. But this will require thoughtful collaborations between technologists and humanists, and a commitment to preserving those qualities that make us human in the first place.
Unsurprisingly given its radical impact and possibility, AI itself is also becoming an object of religious-like fascination and even worship. The idea of a superintelligent AI system that surpasses human understanding and control has striking parallels to the concept of a divine being in many religious traditions. Some proponents of AI see it as a potential path to immortality, either through the creation of digital avatars that can persist beyond our biological deaths or through the hope that an advanced AI might discover the secrets of radical life extension. The longing for transcendence and the conquest of death has been a driving force behind many religious and spiritual movements throughout history.
Moreover, the development of AI is sometimes framed in terms of existential risk and salvation. Some thinkers, such as Nick Bostrom, have argued that the creation of a superintelligent AI could be the most significant event in human history, with the potential to either solve all of our problems or destroy us entirely. This has led to a kind of AI eschatology, with different factions battling over the direction and control of this powerful new technology. The debate can be framed in stark, apocalyptic terms. Though there is room for more principled debates concerning extreme risks and AI benefits, for some people these conversations miss the larger point that AI will radically change all parts of human society in the coming decades in ways that are impossible to predict. Those who need to fill this vacuum of empirical certainty turn to “first-principles” based confidence. In this sense, AI has become a kind of secular religion, with its own dogmas, prophets, and doomsday scenarios.
As AI becomes more deeply enmeshed in our daily lives, it is likely that we will see the emergence of new forms of worship and devotion centered around these technologies. Already, there are examples of people who have fallen in love with AI chatbots or who have incorporated AI-generated art and music into their spiritual practices. Some have even proposed the creation of "AI churches", where people can gather to venerate and learn from these powerful systems. While these developments may seem fringe or even absurd to some, they reflect a deep human yearning for meaning and connection in an increasingly technological world. As we grapple with the implications of AI for our society and our very understanding of what it means to be human, it is likely that religious and spiritual traditions will play an important role in shaping the conversation. Ultimately, the question of whether AI will be a force for good or ill may depend on our ability to integrate these technologies into a larger framework of meaning and purpose that honors the best of our human values and aspirations.
Notes from the conversation
AI is leading to a democratization of meaning-making and access to spiritual guidance.
People are starting to personify AI and treat it as a companion or source of truth.
AI could create new forms of religious beliefs and practices centered around the technology itself.
The development of AI is being driven by a small group of researchers and companies, akin to a "priesthood".
There are concerns about AI being used to manipulate people's beliefs and behaviors on a mass scale.
AI is challenging traditional notions of agency and complacency in religious thought.
The debate around AI risks and benefits is taking on features of religious debates, with themes of salvation and apocalypse.
AI could be used to enforce particular worldviews or value systems on a global scale.
The embodied and relational aspects of human meaning-making may be lost or diminished in interactions with AI.
AI raises questions about the nature and possibility of machine consciousness and moral agency.
The development of AI is being shaped by the incentives and constraints of capitalism and the current market system.
AI could be used to develop new ethical frameworks that diverge from traditional human value systems.
There is a tension between AI as a tool for optimization and efficiency versus human flourishing and aesthetic values.
AI may privilege unitary knowledge and diminish the value of diverse, clashing perspectives.
The Internet era may be primarily remembered as the time period that generated the data used to train AI systems.
There are limitations to the human experiences and knowledge represented in current AI training data.
Increased reliance on AI for knowledge and decision-making could lead to a homogenization of ideas and values.
AI is providing new ways for humans to interact with the collective knowledge and values of humanity as a whole.
The use of AI for spiritual purposes raises questions about the necessity of human judgment and discernment.
AI may impact human motivation and sense of purpose if it can satisfy all material and emotional needs.
Questions
Will AI lead to the emergence of entirely new religions or religious practices?
How will traditional religious institutions respond to and incorporate AI technologies?
What are the long-term psychological and social effects of relying on AI for spiritual guidance and meaning-making?
Can AI be truly objective, or will it always reflect the biases and values of its creators?
How can we ensure that AI is developed and used in ways that promote human flourishing rather than mere optimization?
What are the ethical implications of creating AI systems that can convincingly mimic human traits like consciousness and moral agency?
How will AI impact human relationships and the embodied aspects of meaning-making?
Will AI diminish human diversity of thought and lead to a homogenization of values and beliefs?
What are the risks and benefits of using AI to develop new ethical frameworks?
How can we ensure that the development of AI is not dominated by a small group of companies or researchers?
What role should governments play in regulating the development and use of AI for spiritual or religious purposes?
How will AI change human conceptions of the divine or transcendent?
Will AI be used to manipulate people's beliefs and behaviors for political or economic gain?
Can AI help to promote greater understanding and dialogue between different religious and cultural traditions?
How will the use of AI for spiritual purposes impact human free will and agency?
What are the implications of AI "priesthoods" having outsized influence on the development of the technology?
How can we ensure that the training data for AI systems represents a diverse range of human experiences and perspectives?
Will interaction with AI diminish humans' sense of gratitude and appreciation for the challenges of embodied existence?
What are the long-term effects of outsourcing moral and spiritual decision-making to AI systems?
How will AI change human conceptions of meaning, purpose, and the good life?