The spiritual tech market in India is booming. According to some estimates, it is likely to reach a value of around USD 58 billion by 2030. The trend gained momentum during the Covid era, with apps delivering spiritual and religious services to the screen. It has become possible to do a puja or a havan virtually. While such apps have their uses, they do not substitute the actual experience. Pilgrims have found epiphanies during arduous journeys.
The use of artificial intelligence tools has added a new dimension to religious study and practice. Thanks to open-source AI models, chatbots are ready to answer religious questions. With AI Vedas, Deen Buddy, AI Buddha and Text with Jesus now available, almost every religion has acquired AI avatars. Their accessibility and speedy responses may lead users to revere them as they would a preceptor or guru.
The integration of AI in religious services has become increasingly commonplace. Robots have been used to deliver Sunday sermons. Confessions are enabled and counselling offered through robots. This generation of digital natives are comfortable turning to chatbots for advice. ‘Faith as a service’ is available on demand.
Two distinct characteristics of the present age are algorithm-driven predictability and a tendency to seek validation. Predictability does not factor in the concept of free will and continues to engage the user with familiar content. The way validation works is by affirming the beliefs of a user, even though it may be illogical. To a vulnerable user who perhaps doubts the authority of existing institutions, these computational outputs may appear as the truth, and nothing but the truth.
The question that arises is whether the high-level computing resources used by AI should be directed to areas like religion, which are not essentially data-driven. Or is it necessary to confine AI to areas like scientific research or augmenting productivity. It is unlikely that AI can grasp the meaning of the sacred, which has an emotional component. It is said that the Buddha’s response to certain questions was transformative silence. It is doubtful if any AI tool would be capable of conveying this noble silence.
Religion is essentially a system of beliefs that addresses some of the most perplexing situations in human existence. When a chatbot gives answers on human experience, it would not be based on experiential knowledge. Further, many religious practices are community-based. When people begin to engage with personalised religious chatbots, they could lose the organic connection to other participants in the quest. There is a Zulu saying that underlines the Ubuntu philosophy, “A person is a person because of other people.”
Except in the EU, development of AI in most countries is unregulated. AI venturing into religion may prove to be a tool for indoctrination. Religion has the potential to anchor human beings to core values, giving them an ethical framework. However, throughout history, religion has also triggered wars, incited brutality and ignited passions. It has been worn as a badge of identity and followers openly declare their faith even today.
Religious leaders have weighed in on AI’s influence. The Sankaracharya of Sringeri recently said that dharma, meaning right conduct, continues to be relevant in the age AI. Pope Leo XIV has urged AI developers to bring in “moral discernment” to their work. Religious AI tools should have the right incentive structure, which prioritises ethics, tolerance and coexistence for human good. This is necessary considering the potential reach of the technology. The responsibility is, therefore, on those training AI models to bring into the architecture such beneficial incentive structures. Without oversight, AI could become a source of misinformation or prove to be snake oil.
Religions are often a product of existential crises, seeking answers to questions of life and death, good and evil, and human suffering. AI trained on swathes of data can respond to many questions with some degree of plausibility. What it lacks is the lived experience of religious thinkers and savants. It may simulate suffering, although its machine-existence gives it immunity. Further, it could hypothetically continue to exist forever, possessing the immortality that many humans aspire for. This may be misinterpreted as a sign of transcendence. It is highly possible that AI, especially generative AI, will birth cults, create false prophets and proffer slick solutions as user interactions increase.
AI, besides being an enabler of religious study or instruction, could also carve for itself the position of a religion. A Silicon Valley engineer in 2017 started a church, The Way of the Future, where the godhead was AI. Although the church was wound up, it later revived with a small following. But the idea it perpetrates is that of an omniscient entity with an array of capabilities including control, execution and destruction.
The dazzling possibilities of AI points towards an infinitude. Some enthusiasts believe that AI will acquire a consciousness in the future. However, questions regarding the nature of human consciousness are themselves unresolved. Machines may not become self-aware because of their computational prowess—thinking involves not merely active assimilation, but also passive reflection. It’s worthwhile to remember the words of Emily Bender, who said that AI tools can be “stochastic parrots”.
Geetha Ravichandran
Former bureaucrat and author of The Spell of the Rain Tree
(Views are personal)