AI has transcended into the spiritual realm. There is now no need to go to your local church or temple or to even log off the computer for an avenue to God. Any metaphysical concerns can now be dealt with by a robot that is setting our planet on fire. How on earth did we get to this point?
When Covid forced us into our own spaces, religion moved online. Religious services, even funerals, were streamed on YouTube. Feast days and celebrations took place either at a distance or online. And then there was the explosion of interest in “manifestation”. Some called it “woo woo”, or “witchcraft”, or “delusion”. Nonetheless, the art of manifesting – believing that your dream state is your reality – skyrocketed in popularity, especially on TikTok.
This notion of magicking up your future hit the mainstream pretty quickly. It was on t-shirts, pencils, journals. Any business that paid even the slightest bit of attention to current trends hopped on the bandwagon to sell crystal-infused water bottles. You could now buy notebooks with an affirmation-a-day to manifest Your! Dream! Life! Certain corners of the internet were dedicated to casting spells, positive-thinking your way out of your life circumstances, and to meditation.
The spiritual had finally caught up to the internet revolution – having been forced online due to Covid, but also due to an ever-increasing inclination for us to spend more or less all of our days online. Whether this was inevitable or not, it appears that technology is at the forefront of our lives, for better or for worse.
While it’s bad enough that people are using the website as a therapist or as an echo chamber best friend, there is something sinister about this next step in severing the human connection between us and spirituality.
People are using the AI tool to interpret tarot cards, dissect birth charts and to pray. ChatGPT will pick from its behemoth of data to tell you that a new job is coming or that your boyfriend is going to break up with you (Ace of Pentacles, Three of Swords). You can ask for Bible verses to meditate on, Duas (Islamic prayers of request) and even sermons on the Torah. Some are using an AI-chatbot that allows you to “chat with God”. The first twelve messages are free.
I have seen the use of ChatGPT to chart a map to spiritual enlightenment, clearing the unclear road ahead with to-dos and succinct explanations. No need to think anymore or ask for guidance from up above. Is anything holy anymore?
Think about it. Food deliveries are by drone or by an underpaid stranger to your door. Friendship is online. Love is on Hinge. Some of us don’t even leave the house to go to work. If almost the entirety of your life is on your phone, then why shouldn’t you have an e-relationship with the divine?
This reliance on AI and the internet strips away the vital, human part of living. If there was no humanity to experience, there would be very little point to life. To try and discern spiritual meaning from a robot separates us from the most important aspect of religion and spirituality: the human desire to find a meaning in all of this. The removal of people from religion and spirituality renders it useless.
It appears to be a contradiction to use something to pray that is desecrating our sacred planet at such a rapid pace; even more so than our traditional use of energy. ChatGPT uses 19.58 million gallons of water and 19.99 million kWh of electricity every day, which is enough to charge 4 million phones and flush 12 million toilets daily. Using ChatGPT to discern spiritual meaning while simultaneously contributing to a massive waste of resources is an aberration of any faith.
Religion and spirituality are undeniably human. The entire basis of said spirituality is that it concerns the human desire to know why and to believe in something beyond the stars. Bringing AI into the mix removes us from our own journeys in figuring out our higher purpose. How can you do this through the medium of AI – something so far removed from humanity and out of sync with the world around us?
As Brendan Behan wrote, “I always get grateful and pious in good weather and this was the kind of day you’d know Christ died for you”. Like pretty much everything else, life is best experienced in person. Do you want to spend your one wild life engaging in the holiest and most life-affirming acts with a robot?
And what is religion without man? God needs us just as much as we need him.
