AI and Religion–Reflective as Usual?

As the semester begins, professors return with resolve to teach and research with a fresh outlook. But no one gets into the ivory tower without hearing the chatter about AI. Artifical Intelligence is all the rage in the public disocurse. And for the scholar of religion, AI’s not just a sticking point in classroom protocol but an object of study.

My friend and Alabama colleauge, Nathan Lowen is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Arts & Sciences Special Projects Liaison. He is doing some neat work on and with AI (i.e. large language models). He’s the co-editor of the upcoming Artifical Intelligence in 5 Minutes (Equinox 2027).

Prof. Loewen recently spoke with KCBS anchor Margie Shafer to think aloud about AI in religious communities. I found this observation very helpful.

We are working with extant model with large language models, particualrly if you have a religious person querying, let’s say, ChatGPT for a sermon, or a ritual, or to plan an event. The model is reflecting back extant knowledge. It’s not inventing new knowledge, so there just seeing what they’ve seen before–just in a new package.

What I appreciate in Prof. Loewen’s take is that he keeps in view how technology is a site of tool usage and signification. It brings to mine sociologist Don Kraybill’s work on “Amish hacking.” The Amish aren’t anti-technology, he says. They’re just more thoughtful about it and what it says about them.

What will the uses of AI/LLMs say about us as students, researchers, and members of society?