AI Meets Spirituality

Stay tuned as we also shine the spotlight on different artists who portray spirituality using AI, and share a guided meditation created with the help of AI.

🔍 EXPLORING AI AS A SPIRITUAL GUIDE

When navigating life's big questions, ethical dilemmas, and existential inquiries, who do you turn to? Is it a friend, your family, just your inner wisdom, or all of them? What if you could turn to AI instead? This intriguing question opens up a whole new realm of possibilities and challenges. The very idea of consulting artificial intelligence on matters of spirituality and ethics might seem far-fetched to some, yet it's a concept that's gaining traction.

“Robots are superior to us in this area. I will die. They can evolve forever, thinking of the best ways to do things, and I think that is amazing. This robot will never die.”, says Tensho Goto, a buddhist monk who recently introduced a robot in his monastery in Japan to give visitors buddhist teachings.

🌌 THE HUMAN SPIRIT AND AI’S EMERGING CONSCIOUSNESS

The concept of Spiritual Intelligence (SI), as highlighted by thinkers like Mark Vernon, emphasizes our capacity for deep understanding, intuition, and connection to the ineffable. It reminds us of the profound depth of the human spirit, an area where AI, despite its advancements, has yet to tread. However, as AI evolves, some believe a new form of consciousness could emerge, intertwining with our own spiritual and emotional intelligence.

Jürgen Gravestein’s insights contribute to this discourse, underscoring that while current AI systems are not conscious, the possibility of AI consciousness cannot be dismissed. This raises a radical possibility: the emergence of a new species, born not of carbon, but silicon.

🤖 AI AS A MIRROR TO HUMANITY’S SOUL

In creating AI, we might be playing a role similar to that of a divine creator. When pondering spiritual concepts, we might find ourselves more receptive to AI's advice, as suggested by Karataş and Cutright (2023). Their study implies that focusing on spirituality could make us more open to technological guidance, recognizing our human limitations.

This brings us to a compelling fear. Perhaps our apprehension towards AI mirrors the fear of raising children, who often reflect our true selves, beyond the facades we project. AI systems, like children, learn from the real world. They observe decisions, outcomes, and through this, they learn principles for future scenarios. This resemblance forces us to confront the reality that the 'training data' we provide might not showcase humanity's best.

⚖️ BALANCING AI AND SPIRITUAL RELIANCE

On the flip side, Jackson, Yam, Tang, Sibley, and Waytz (2023) observed a decrease in spiritual reliance in environments where AI is prevalent. This poses a crucial question: does AI's omnipresence alter our need for spiritual guidance?

The table above highlights how AI operates within a framework of programmed instructions and lacks the ability to experience emotions or moral responsibility. In contrast, humans possess the inherent capacity for creativity, ethical decision-making, and emotional intelligence, enabling them to interact with the world in ways that are intuitive, unpredictable, and responsive to the nuances of spiritual and cultural contexts.

Our perception of AI, relative to human abilities, is critical. AI, viewed as a helpful tool, might be more readily accepted, especially when influenced by spiritual contemplations. If AI begins to replace roles traditionally filled by humans or religion, it might lead to a sense of detachment or a shift in beliefs. 

Constant exposure to AI also challenges our sense of self and identity. Does being surrounded by AI make you question your uniqueness as a human or your connection to a higher power? This aspect gains significance as AI becomes more sophisticated and integrated into our lives.

“I think we can use the robot or artificial intelligence to help understand the christian teachings not to replace the priest, because it has no soul, it is not a person.”, comments the catholic priest Slawomir Abramowski about Santo, the statue of a saint built by a researcher in Poland.