About this episode

This episode explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and spirituality, discussing how AI is perceived as a moral authority and its implications for human agency.

We’ve always assumed that if there IS a God, that God made us. But what if it ends up being the other way around… and we’re already further along than we think? Artificial intelligence is now offering moral advice, generating new forms of scripture, even simulating conversations with the divine. For some users, the line between useful tool and spiritual authority is already starting to blur. Why does it feel so natural for us to imagine there’s a ghost in the machine? And what happens when the people building AI start to talk and think about their creation in religious terms? On this episode, we’ll talk to journalist Sigal Samuel about where AI is showing up in religious spaces and how what it becomes will have major consequences for human agency and how we understand our place in the world. And we’ll talk to psychologist Paul Bloom about the quirks of human psychology that make us so prone to see minds, intention, and perhaps even the divine, in the machine. Along the way we’ll also ask: Can AI be morally formed? Could it ever have something like its own spiritual yearning? And if it could, what might it mean for us? Sigal Samuel is a senior reporter at Vox, where she covers…

People in this episode

Guests: Sigal Samuel, Paul Bloom

Topics covered

• artificial intelligence
• religion
• morality
• human psychology
• spirituality
• technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Vox, University of Toronto

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