AI Chatbots: The New Frontier of Digital Spirituality

Millions turn to AI chatbots for spiritual guidance and confession

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that tens of millions of people are confessing secrets to AI chatbots trained on religious texts, with apps like Bible Chat reaching over 30 million downloads and Catholic app Hallow briefly topping Netflix, Instagram, and TikTok in Apple's App Store. In China, people are using DeepSeek to try to decode their fortunes. In her report, Lauren Jackson examined "faith tech" apps that cost users up to $70 annually, with some platforms claiming to channel divine communication directly. Some of the apps address what creators describe as an accessibility problem. "You don't want to disturb your pastor at three in the morning," Krista Rogers, a 61-year-old Ohio resident, told the Times about using the YouVersion Bible app and ChatGPT for spiritual questions. The report also examines platforms that go beyond simple scriptural guidance. While a service like ChatwithGod operates as a "spiritual advisor," its conversational nature is convincing enough that users often question whether they are speaking directly with a divine being. As its chief executive told the Times, the most frequent question from users is, "Is this actually God I am talking to?" The answer, of course, is no. These chatbots operate like other large language models -- they generate statistically plausible text based on patterns in training data, not divine words from the heavens. When trained on religious texts, they produce responses that sound spiritually informed but can potentially mislead people with erroneous information or reassurance. Unlike human spiritual advisors, chatbots cannot have your best interests in mind because they don't have a mind: Chatbots are neither people nor supernatural beings.

AI Now Claiming to Be God

A slew of religious smartphone apps are allowing untold millions of users to confess to AI chatbots, some of which claim to be channeling God himself. As the New York Times reports, Apple's App Store is teeming with Christian chatbot apps. One "prayer app," called Bible Chat, claims to be the number one faith app in the world, boasting over 25 million users. "Our AI was trained exclusively on Scripture and developed with guidance from Christian pastors and theologians," the company's website boasts. "Greetings, my child," a service called ChatWithGod.ai told one user, as quoted by the NYT. "The future is in God's merciful hands. Do you trust in His divine plan?" Religious leaders told the NYT that these tools could serve as a critical entry point for those looking to find God. "There is a whole generation of people who have never been to a church or synagogue," A British rabbi named Jonathan Romain told the paper. "Spiritual apps are their way into faith." Instead of going on long pilgrimages or driving to the closest place of worship, users can simply turn to AI chatbots to seek spiritual guidance. It's a fascinating new development, especially considering the language surrounding companies attempting to "build God" by developing an AI that can vastly surpass human intelligence. However, while users are finding that chatbots are an accessible way to get in touch with their religious side, they're not much more than a cheap parlor trick behind the scenes, essentially reshuffling holy texts by using clever statistical modeling. Worse yet, experts worry that AI's strong tendency to please the user may have unintended consequences. The AIs "tell us what we want to hear," Texas A&M technology and religion professor Heidi Campbell told the NYT. "It's not using spiritual discernment, it is using data and patterns." Researchers have also warned that countless people are using AI chatbots for companionship, which in extreme cases are driving some into dangerous spirals of delusion in the form of "AI psychosis." "It shouldn't be something where it replaces human connection," prayer app Hallow founder Alex Jones told the NYT. "It does not have a soul from the church's perspective." In short, it's a dystopian new spin on spirituality in the digital age -- and one that just might be poised to change the face of religion itself.