Addicted to Religious Chatbots + Other Headlines

People are Getting Hooked on Religious AI Chatbots

A disturbing new article in the New York Times details how popular religion-focused AI chatbots are becoming. Some of them are chatbots trained on the Bible, or which consult with theologians. But not all of them:

On religious apps, tens of millions of people are confessing to spiritual chatbots their secrets: their petty vanities and deepest worries, gluttonous urges and darkest impulses. Trained on religious texts, the bots are like on-call priests, imams or rabbis, offering comfort and direction at any time. On some platforms, they even purport to channel God.

These include apps like Hallow, Pray.com and Bible Chat, which has more than 30 million downloads.

Some are Christian in focus. Others are Muslim, like QuranGPT. The website ChatwithGod makes a lot of users actually think they are interacting with God:

“The most common question we get, by a lot, is: Is this actually God I am talking to?” said Patrick Lashinsky, ChatwithGod’s chief executive.

And some chatbots actually are claiming to be God.