Post-AI Religion: The Reciprocal Disruption of Digital Religions and AI

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This project explores the reciprocal disruption of AI and religion, while unpacking the concept of ‘disruption’ itself, and emphasizing the dynamics and methods of post-AI digital religion(s) both as objects of study, and as a field of study.

We explore the entanglements of religion and AI, such as the impact of recent forms of GenAI on spiritual knowledge formation and acquisition, religious visions, and religious institutional development. And we consider the ongoing sacralization of the algorithm, leading to both explicit religious improvisations as well as implicit religious tensions, such as those between AI risk and accelerationist ideologies.

Primarily ethnographic in methods, the project involves online and in person field sites, with research stays in the USA, Japan, and China. Under a wider conception of AI, we include people’s interactions with robotic forms both physically as religiously inspired theomorphic robots and in narratives and stories. This project maps AI tool usage and online religious engagement, as ethnography and interviews with AI and futurist communities as well as AI new religious movements will provide valuable insights into evolving dynamics.

We are generating specific conceptual tools for post-AI digital religions research, valuable to current and emerging scholars. Dissemination will include journal articles, public-facing interviews, and essays, all contributing to a nuanced understanding of the dynamics of post-AI digital religion.