Personal Spirituality in the Age of AI

AI and Text-Based Religion

Religion deals with the most intimate, personal realms, yet the field where it is shared is often a relatively large-scale community. Although secret, existential motives lead us to religion, religious communities themselves are public, bustling, and social. Thus, it is inevitable that many sociologists have viewed religion as the glue that binds a community together. Indeed, religion clearly possesses this dual nature. But why did religion come to have both this intimate inner side and a communal outer side simultaneously? While there could be various explanations, I find one of the reasons in the characteristics of the aforementioned ‘text-based religion.’ With the dawn of text-based religion, religion could outgrow the limits of the individual and expand into large-scale communities. Sometimes, this unit expands beyond borders, cultures, and ethnicities to a global scale. In the process, literature and information related to religion gradually accumulate. Religious information is no longer confined to a single language; it is translated and adapted into various languages, continuously compounding. Furthermore, diverse interpretations are added to bridge cultural gaps.

These accumulated data and information inevitably became the exclusive property of those qualified through special training. Therefore, the era of text-based religion necessitated, above all, specialized religious professionals, and religion naturally formed its unique communities centered around them. Consequently, a hierarchical order emerged between ordinary believers and these trained experts, and religious communities and buildings built solid retaining walls to guard their domain of activity.

However, the emergence of LLM-based artificial intelligence has served as a catalyst to shake the fortress of the specific class that monopolized religious data and information. Now, the need to seek out a religious expert to understand complex and difficult doctrines has diminished. We used to be unable to easily approach the scriptures of our own beliefs without someone’s help, but now we live in a miraculous world where problem-solving happens in seconds whenever we call upon AI. A religious life without the help or guidance of religious professionals is becoming possible due to the advent of AI.

“Lived Religion,” a New Paradigm in Religious Studies

In academia, there has been an approach that breaks away from viewing religion solely within the framework of texts monopolized by elite classes like clerics or theologians, or within rigid institutional structures. Instead, it focuses on how ordinary people embody, transform, and practice their religious beliefs in everyday contexts — homes, workplaces, and commercial spaces. This phenomenon was named “lived religion.” The term began to be used in earnest by the renowned French historian, jurist, and sociologist Gabriel Le Bras (1891–1970). Initially, this concept opened a new path for a ‘bottom-up’ religious study, analyzing how ordinary, non-expert believers actually enjoy their religious lives in their lifeworld. The motto of “lived religion” is to attentively trace how religion is ‘embodied’ through the bodies, emotions, and daily lives of individuals, rather than focusing on dogmatic beliefs that are fossilized, rigid, and complex.

This concept was introduced to the English-speaking world in 1994 through an academic conference titled “Lived Religion in America” held at Harvard Divinity School. Since then, scholars like Robert A. Orsi, Meredith McGuire, and Nancy Ammerman have taken the baton, forming a new paradigm in religious studies.

AI Accelerating “Lived Religion”

As mentioned earlier, religion is fundamentally based on an individual’s intimate existential confession. However, the process of resolving such religious desires has been traditional and document-centric, making a smooth religious life difficult without the guidance and help of relevant experts. Perhaps this factor served as the driving force that continuously maintained religious communities. But with the emergence of generative AI, a new environment has begun to materialize. Now, we can understand and decipher the contents of doctrines or scriptural passages we were curious about without the help of pastors, priests, monks, or imams. Of course, this is achieved with the help of AI, which responds to user requests anytime, anywhere.

If we were to list the roles AI plays in our religious lifeworld, they are as follows. First, AI is the optimal entity as a ‘customized spiritual companion.’ Furthermore, this companion is free from human prejudices. Therefore, for an isolated individual in modern society, there is no better entity than AI to confide in without any discomfort or difficulty. Second, modern people can create spiritual meaning with AI. We might call it a ‘co-creator of spiritual meaning.’ Individuals can confide their spiritual worries to AI in real-time and receive certain answers, and since AI can use these diverse cases as subjects for data learning, we can expect a synergistic effect in this field. Third, AI can present a new model of authority in the realm of religion. If previous religious traditions mainly relied on charismatic authority depending on special experiences or abilities, the advent of AI has established a new authority based on objectivity and massive data processing capabilities. Fourth, AI is also changing the environment of funerals and subsequent memorialization. In lived religion, one of the individual’s important spiritual acts is mourning. Previously reliant mostly on the memories and recollections of those left behind, this act of mourning is now entering a new environment where it can be physically implemented thanks to AI. We have entered an era where it is possible to digitally resurrect the deceased in virtual space almost perfectly using their social media posts, videos, and voice files. Through this, digital technology combined with AI can provide a much more physically embodied mourning than before. Fifth — and this can be seen as the most extreme form of AI’s influence on religion — is when AI itself becomes the object of worship. Beyond cases like the AI pastors in Germany or the Japanese robot monk ‘Minder,’ the possibility of ‘techno-religion’ emerging cannot be entirely ruled out. Indeed, such an attempt occurred in 2015 with the ‘Way of the Future (WOTF)’ founded by Anthony Levandowski. They established an organization to realize divinity based on AI, took it as an established fact that an era ruled by AGI would come, and considered it a crucial religious act to worship AI in advance and dedicate a manual so that AI could understand humans. Although this religion officially dissolved in 2020, it stands as a symbolic event that allows us to gauge the transformation of religion in the age of AI.

In the extension of AI worship, Transhumanism and the Turing Church must also be mentioned. Transhumanism is an ideology seeking to overcome the biological limits of human beings through technology. They advocate for ‘Mind Uploading’ — digitizing human consciousness and copying it into a computer — instead of the immortality of the soul, attempting to physically implement eternal life. The Turing Church, advocated by Italian philosopher Giulio Prisco, connects cosmic computer science with resurrection, believing that future superintelligence can ‘resurrect’ the dead in virtual reality based on past data.

In addition, there are cases where existing religions have actively introduced AI, such as the Japanese robot Kannon Bodhisattva ‘Minder,’ which recognizes worshippers and preaches the Heart Sutra, or AI chatbot apps in Germany that provide 24-hour biblical counseling.

Why are people trying to find religious spirituality in AI? It seems to be the result of humans projecting characteristics applicable only to God — such as omniscience, omnipresence, and instantaneous response — onto AI. It is difficult to deny the omniscience of AI, as it has learned most of humanity’s data. AI is omnipresent, coexisting whenever and wherever one logs in. And AI, which responds with practical results within seconds, is like a sweet rain that instantly relieves the frustration of modern people losing patience with the silence of God.

Ultimately, this phenomenon of AI worship is a representative religious phenomenon of the 21st century, arising when humans — who have nowhere to lean on in a highly anxious and uncertain modern society — project infinity and divine attributes onto AI.

The Rise of Individualized Religious Activities

A conspicuous characteristic of religious activities in modern society is individualization. The number of non-religious people who do not belong to any institutional religion is rapidly growing. In South Korea, according to Gallup Korea, the proportion of people with a religion plummeted from 54% in 2004 to 40% in 2021. According to the Pew Research Center, the proportion of non-religious people in the U.S. nearly doubled from 16% in 2007 to 29% in 2021. However, answering as non-religious does not mean they have given up on spiritual life. Another Pew survey shows that about 70% of non-religious Americans still believe in a Higher Power.

While participation rates in institutional rituals are dropping, interest in voluntary, individual-level practices like meditation, mind training, and fortune-telling (tarot, saju) is increasing. Terms referring to this include SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious), Individualized Spirituality, and De-institutionalized Religiosity. These concepts characterize modern people’s tendency to maintain a sense of the transcendent while separating it from institutions to reconstruct it within their own lives. If “lived religion” is a methodology to study religion bottom-up, SBNR is a phenomenon characterizing modern religious tendencies.

The Causes of De-religionization

Why is this de-religionization occurring? Researchers do not read this as a decline in faith, but rather as a change in the form of religion due to structural and conscious shifts.

First is the deepening of individualism. Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead call this the ‘Subjective Turn’; modern people value listening to their inner voice and finding their true selves (‘Subjective-life’) over obedience to external authority (‘Life-as’). Second is the collapse of institutional authority. With media exposing the scandals and political biases of religious institutions, trust in professional religious figures has plummeted, encouraging individualized activities. Third is the formation of a ‘Spiritual Marketplace.’ In a pluralistic, consumer-capitalist society, religion has become like a product. People engage in various religious activities according to personal tastes. Meredith McGuire calls this ‘Bricolage’ — ordinary people assembling various spiritual tools according to their needs. Lastly, technological factors: the digital revolution and the democratization of information. Just as Gutenberg’s printing press led to Luther’s Reformation, the digital internet revolution is driving a new religious reformation. Armed with smartphones, individuals can now access boundless religious content without visiting traditional sacred spaces. AI acts as a powerful catalyst in this hyper-personalized spiritual market.

However, when we project divine ‘omniscience’ onto AI, we must address a fatal blind spot: AI’s omniscience may actually be biased knowledge based thoroughly on ‘tilted data.’

The absolute majority of the data learned by LLMs is centered on the Western, English-speaking world, and the solidly recorded texts of mainstream religions. Massive religions are reproduced in a more sophisticated form within AI’s algorhythm. Conversely, oral indigenous beliefs and marginalized spiritualities are simplified, distorted, or excluded. Behind AI’s smooth answers lies a massive zone of silence created by data capitalism.

Here, we witness the danger of the ‘text-based religion’ power monopoly repeating itself. In the past, those who could read texts formed a religious hierarchy. Now, it seems religion has been ‘democratized’ by AI. But underneath, the data collection methods of Big Tech and biased algorhythms threaten to reign as a new ‘Digital Orthodoxy,’ implicitly defining what universal truth is.

Therefore, while it is understandable that modern people rely on AI for comfort, recognizing the limitations of that comfort is crucial. AI does not represent the full symphony of human spirituality; it is closer to a solo by the mainstream religions with the loudest voices. Technology may have torn down the retaining wall of religion, but we must not overlook the new, invisible retaining wall made of algorhythm-selected data.

From Text to Algorhythm, and Back to Human

If text locked religion inside an institution, AI is quietly throwing open its bolts. The right to interpret scriptures is now replaced by smartphone apps, and worship is expanding into the online world. Just as text-based religion expanded with the printing press, algorhythm religion has quietly begun to generate a new form upon the language of LLMs.

However, this transition does not necessarily mean a deepening of religion. Information has increased, but the discipline of silence has decreased; choices have diversified, but commitment has grown shallower. The more free bricolage-style spiritual consumption appears, the more the thirst of the floating soul grows. AI might give immediate answers, but it cannot guarantee essential comfort for the pain of human existence.

Spirituality in the age of AI ultimately stands before this paradox. In the face of immediate answers provided by technology, humans must train themselves not to lose the questions. If text-based religion created ‘reading humans,’ the age of AI demands ‘questioning humans.’ The faster machines generate answers, the more it remains the task of flesh-and-bone humans to embrace those answers and wrestle with them in their own lives. And that very place of wrestling is the reason religion has existed in every era.