Dear AI, is there a God? If yes, what does He say in...

AI has been used to assess religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, and the Quran. Now, humans seek guidance from the world's most famous spiritual giants' AI-powered avatars. (Representational photo: Korolina Grabowska via Pexels)

The influence of artificial intelligence (AI) is expanding into many spheres of human experience, including religious and spiritual practice. AI is already being utilized to improve religious tourism experiences. For example, AI-powered virtual tours of pilgrimage sites and places of worship allow individuals to see and learn about critical religious locations without travelling long distances. Taking the engagement a step further, the Vatican has embraced AI by creating a robot that takes confessions. And ChatGPT3 now powers a chatbot called GitaGPT that answers your queries about concepts in the Bhagvad Gita.

Some faithful see AI as a way to get closer to God via tools like prayer bots that allow them to pray or perform religious rites online. (Tel Aviv University's Jewish prayer chatbot is one example: People can pray in Hebrew with a virtual rabbi using this chatbot. Another example is the development of religious AI tools, such as the Quranic Arabic Corpus, which allows individuals to study the Quran.) Other groups have remained hesitant out of concern that AI could hasten the world's end.

Yet there is no denying the steady march of AI in this space. The latest generation of AI-powered chatbots has left early users amazed and sometimes scared by their capabilities. Generative AI bots trained on large language models (LLMs) seem to be able to produce answers about our connection with the divine and even offer spiritual guidance - as with everything else linked to generative AI right now, the quality of answers depends on how the question is framed and what the AI is designed to do of course.

Some concrete examples:

GitaGPT

GPT-3 powers the AI chatbot GitaGPT. Users can ask questions, and the platform's AI chatbot will provide an answer based on the Bhagavad Gita. When we asked GitaGPT, "What is the purpose of life?" it answered, "The purpose of life, according to the Bhagavad Gita, is to strive for liberation from old age and death, taking refuge in the divine, and performing actions that are by one's dharma or purpose." It's the key to knowing oneself, or Brahman, and thereby breaking the cycle of reincarnation.

BuddhaGPT

Asked "What is the purpose of life?", BuddhaGPT said- obtaining enlightenment and being free from suffering is the goal of life. It is accomplished by cultivating knowledge, empathy, and moral conduct.

QuranGPT

QuranGPT's home page encourages users to "Seek guidance from The Almighty, for He Will Not Refuse." The Quran's answer to the question "What is the purpose of life?" is to worship Allah, develop one's moral character and faith, advance justice and peace, and use one's life to help others.

Jesus-GPT

In response to the question "What is the meaning of life?", Jesus-GPT said: "Live as if you're going to die tomorrow." The moment you open your eyes, see each day as a gift. There is no time to squander on meaningless concerns in this life.

Sahl - the virtual imam

In 2017, a technology firm in the United Arab Emirates unveiled Sahl, a virtual imam powered by artificial intelligence. Sahl can address congregations and inquiries about Islam in Arabic and English.

Jewish prayer bot at Tel Aviv University

A Jewish prayer chatbot was created by researchers at Tel Aviv University. The bot lets users submit prayer requests, receive responses from other users, and share their prayers with the community. The chatbot's AI customizes the prayer based on the user's location, the time of day, and other variables.

Sindr for confessions

The Vatican created an AI-powered chatbot named "Sindr" in 2021 so Catholics could confess their sins to the church. Those unable to physically attend the confession might use this app.

Robot priest

A robot priest was first introduced to a Hindu temple in India in 2020, and he now performs daily rites and bestows blessings on worshippers. The robot uses AI technology to understand and speak four human languages.