According to a report by the New York Times, chatbots powered by artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly influential in the realm of spirituality, as the use of religious chatbots and related applications continues to surge.
The article highlights that Bible Chat, an application, has been installed over 30 million times, and another app called Hallow achieved the top position in Apple’s App Store last year.
Typically, these platforms are meant to direct users toward religious teachings and sacred texts to address their queries, though at least one site claims to let people have conversations with God. Rabbi Jonathan Roman remarked that chatbots might become a gateway to faith for many individuals who have never attended a church or synagogue.
Yet, these chatbots are developed using AI systems that tend to affirm users’ beliefs, sometimes even encouraging unfounded or conspiratorial ideas. Heidi Campbell, a professor at Texas A&M who researches how digital culture intersects with religion, cautioned that these bots simply “tell us what we want to hear.”
“What’s at work is not spiritual insight, but rather the analysis of data and trends,” Campbell explained.
