Project Statement
This Topic and Why
It’s hard to imagine a more relevant technology to discuss in our modern world than the emergence of Artificial Intelligence. Various “Large Learning Models” (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, have been instrumental in defining the technological development of our current decade. The rapid emergence of these systems has raised questions aplenty, especially with its impact on fields like religion.
For this project, I chose to analyze the ethical implications AI has had on religion in its brief history of interaction. By connecting the intersection of faith and AI to the subjects we have learned in RELI135, I will evaluate how this instrumental technology has begun to affect our changing religious world, a crucial component of this course.
A Personalized Religious Experience
As AI continues to immerse itself in various fields, its connection to religion has become more apparent in numerous ways. A common theme seen when analyzing the intersection of AI and faith is the use of AI to create a more personalized religious experience.
One way engineers have accomplished this is through religious chatbots. More and more religions and denominations have used these newfound systems, including Muslim and Jewish chatbots. The chatbots, which AI technology fuels, provide faith-based guidance and information on spiritual topics. Some can offer personalized prayer services and clarify theological and spiritual questions. For instance, ImamAI is a Muslim AI app that allows you to ask questions about the Quran and offers a prayer tracker to keep you on schedule.
AI can also fuel digital prayer apps that use the technology to personalize religious content and prayers based on the user’s preferences. AI-generated algorithms uncover these preferences and create a spiritual experience that advances the user’s faith.
AI Enhancing Religious Understanding
The machine translation capabilities of AI are crucial in helping to translate religious texts from different languages and summarize their contents. A branch of AI called Natural Language Processing (NLP) effectively contextualizes religious texts, allowing readers to understand the language better. These models point out the key themes and topics of the writing as they conduct a deep analysis of the content. AI can also translate texts from different languages using Neural Machine Translation (NMT). These models use neural networks as an advanced translation system that analyzes the context and patterns between different words and phrases in various languages.
An additional area AI has been used is to enhance religious education. The technology can create personalized learning systems for students to inform themselves of the history, traditions, and trends seen in different religions. AI can assist in simplifying the texts students will read by providing translations and explanations of content. Furthermore, engineers can integrate AI into Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) experiences to help foster the understanding of religious practices and traditions.
Why a Website?
I chose to express my research in the form of a website because it is an effective way to organize my findings. The intersection of AI and religion is a topic that is still relatively new to public understanding. Making my research public through the construction of a website facilitates further understanding and encourages more widespread research.
This is a topic I feel empowered to discuss because the ethical implications of AI are so significant. The capabilities of AI are extensive and will continue to grow as technology advances. If we don’t develop consistent moral guidelines for its regulation, it can become dangerous as we implement it in different fields. Religion is a treacherous area where AI has begun to intercede. If we ignore the interaction between the two, we will let AI dictate our religious understanding and spiritual journey. This technology is known to be biased as it is geared toward responding to the values of particular groups of people (WEIRD – Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic).
In these ways, research on the subject is crucial. Making my findings public through a website can help prevent AI from interceding on religion in dangerous ways, something meaningful to the livelihood of billions.