Will we worship A.I.? How are religions already rejecting, adopting or adapting to A.I.? How could A.I. re-shape the future of organised religion?

Could the questions get any bigger?

My conversation today is with THE global expert on the AI and religion, Prof Beth Singler. Beth explores adoption, rejection, and adaptation responses from organized religion, gives vivid examples of chatbot “priests” and theomorphic robots already being used in religious rituals, and helps me think much more expansively about the future implications and dangers.

We also discuss the secular world and how utopian dreams and quasi-religious metaphors fuel the pressure to “accelerate” A.I. without bounds.

Beth discusses harmful outcomes she is seeing, and the boundaries and safety considerations we should all keep in mind. We also look at how A.I. can help prick the bubble of human exceptionalism and teach us some much-deeded humility. As you will hear, once you start exploring A.I. and religion, you cannot help but reflect more deeply on how A.I. will impact all aspects of our lives, spiritual and otherwise.

It's a fun conversation (Beth is truly brilliant!) and at the same time deals with serious, high-stakes issues that we all need to be discussing about our (near) future.

Prof Beth Singler has written multiple books and produced a series of documentaries in her long and distinguished career researching AI and religion. She is Assistant Professor in Digital Religion(s) and Co-Director, University Research Priority Programme in Digital Religion(s) at the University of Zurich (UZH). What a joy and privilege it was to learn from her!

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As always, additional commentary and takeaways and the full transcript will be on the Future Bites page soon. More on my work as a Futurist Speaker, and why I do what I do, at www.brucemccabe.com