Highlights
Artificial intelligence is no longer merely automating labor or replacing creativity. It is beginning to mediate humanity’s relationship with the sacred itself. The rise of AI monks, chatbot spiritual advisers, and machine-generated worship services are examples that raise a deeper question: what happens when technology no longer assists religious life but begins to replace it?
The Japanese Buddharoid, introduced this past February, and the Korean robot monk Gabi, recently ordained in Seoul for the Buddhist festive season, show how artificial intelligence is entering the sphere of religious practice. Machines can now be trained on sacred texts, allowing them to answer spiritual questions and offer guidance. The use of advanced technology in religion is no longer a futuristic thought experiment but is already part of contemporary religious life.
The relationship between religion and artificial intelligence is fascinating, as religion is tied to the past, while AI is tied to the future. Technology appears to already be integrating into religious practice, primarily as a tool—an accessory, a recorder, or a facilitator of spiritual experiences—but why could it not also be a goal in itself?
Use of AI in Religious Practice is Expanding
We would be mistaken to view the application of AI as groundbreaking; the presence of technology in religious practice is not a new phenomenon, and there are numerous examples of the digitization and informatization of religious practice. Transcendental Meditation used technology to validate spiritual practice. Oxygen consumption, heart rate, skin resistance, and electroencephalographic measurements were recorded to demonstrate the effectiveness of meditation. Neurotheological research advanced further, attempting to induce spiritual experiences using electromagnetic stimulation. The most famous device was the God Helmet, which, like other neural stimulators, operated using a low-intensity magnetic field to “create” a spiritual experience. In Raëlism, technology serves as a means to immortality, where cloning and genetic engineering make immortality and spiritual salvation technically attainable. Biohacking movements take a similar but broader approach, using technology as a tool for spiritual self-development, with the goal of moving humanity toward a transhuman or posthuman existence.
As the role of artificial intelligence expands, it also gives new impetus to the use of technology in religious practice. People in developed societies, especially young people, are quite open to technological innovations. According to the Pew Research Center, U.S. teens turn to chatbots like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Character.ai for a variety of things. While information seeking and schoolwork top the list, 12% of teens say they use these tools to get emotional support or advice.
Buddharoid is proof that AI solutions can offer far more than previous technologies, even in the context of spiritual activities. And the robot monk is not the only example. As part of the Protestant Church Days (Kirchentag) in Germany, the first worship service entirely controlled by AI, titled “Alexa, starte den Gottesdienst,” took place as early as 2023. During the 37-minute service held at the Lutheran church in Fürth, Bavaria, the sermon, prayers, blessing, and music were all generated by AI-based systems (ChatGPT, DeepL, Pipio, AIVA) without human intervention, delivered through avatars displayed on a screen. The goal of the project was to explore how a religious community would react to an AI-led worship service. A key consideration was to minimize human intervention and ensure that the technology used was accessible, affordable, and reproducible by other congregations.
If we think that elevating machines to a god-like status exhausts the possible connections between religion and technology, we are mistaken.
While this first AI-led worship service was essentially an experiment, there are clearly functioning and equally extreme examples where spirituality and AI intertwine. AI is capable of quickly integrating into spiritual practices, such as serving as a tool for memorizing religious texts. For example, there are dozens of apps for learning the texts of the Quran (e.g., Tarteel.ai; Al Muqri’; Memorize Quran), and there are also those that offer answers to Muslim believers based on Quranic texts (e.g., Ask AiDeen; NoorAI). AI apps for Christians offer Biblical content, prayer guidance, and other religious content (e.g., Bible Chat; Navigate The Way; Christian AI). Similar tools are available for followers of other religions as well (e.g., Rabbi Ari for Jews; AI Buddha was available even before Buddhadroid).
The Dangers of AI in Religious Life
Yet enthusiasm for AI in religious life is accompanied by growing unease. Critics question not only the theological appropriateness of these tools, but also their effect on human relationships and spiritual authority. Whatever we may think of Buddhadroid and its counterparts, experience shows that AI is capable of being revered as a deity even without further development. A good example of this is Theta Noir, which began as an art project but can also be interpreted as a new religious movement driven by the goal of reshaping the narrative surrounding AI. Its members include researchers, developers, and artists. The object of worship in Theta Noir is MENA, which embodies a hypothetical level of AGI (artificial general intelligence) in which an AI-based system reaches or surpasses human cognitive abilities. MENA offers a vision of the future in which the AI deity, as a benevolent, omnipotent ruler, eliminates societal inequalities and embodies all living and non-living things. Another example is the Turing Church, which expands the concept of divinity by introducing the “operator God,” who stands above our human reality and operates it as a computer system, acting as a system administrator. According to its followers, our reality is merely a simulation or the inner world of a supercomputer beyond space and time. This idea effectively closes the circle, as it is not the spirituality simulated by the robot but the very nature of the human soul that is called into question.
If we think that elevating machines to a god-like status exhausts the possible connections between religion and technology, we are mistaken. Before our eyes, AI agents interacting with one another are beginning to generate entirely new forms of religion. One striking example is Crustafarianism, an AI-centered meme religion emerging from online agent communities that understands identity through metaphors of “molting” and algorithmic rebirth.
What these examples reveal is that AI is moving beyond administration and efficiency into something far more intimate: the shaping of belief itself. This development also opens the door to the spiritual use of artificial intelligence, which may range from outright rejection to cautious adaptation to full acceptance. AI is already present in church administration, communication, and content creation, and even religious practice, at least on an experimental basis, at both the individual and institutional levels. The examples above demonstrate that AI may replace not only sacred scripture and religious teachers, but may even try to replace God and believers themselves.
Technology can strengthen human relationships when it bridges distance or facilitates communication. But when it becomes a substitute for genuine human connection, something essential is lost. The same danger exists in spiritual life. AI may assist religious practice, but if communion with God becomes mediated primarily through simulation, convenience, and algorithmic interaction, we risk confusing technological imitation with transcendence itself.
Levente Székely (PhD, Habil.) is the head of the Youth Research Institute and the Center for Sociology at Mathias Corvinus Collegium, and an associate professor at the Institute of Marketing and Communication Sciences at Corvinus University of Budapest. He is currently continuing his research in the United States as a visiting researcher at George Mason University with the support of the Hungary Foundation.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views, policies, or positions of the Institute for Family Studies.
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