Can AI Reignite Our Faith? With Shanen Boettcher

Beatrice Institute Podcast

AI gives us information. It furnishes facts. It prompts us with news headlines. But could AI also answer our religious questions?

When Shanen Boettcher paused his tech career and completed a master's degree in world religions, he began to ask himself this question. Recently, he conducted a study to put it to the test. In this episode, Shanen and Gretchen discuss his findings and explore the previously widely-ignored intersection of technology and faith. They ask: Do people feel they have more privacy speaking about spirituality with AI? What kind of authority do AI-generated answers evoke? How will the religious realm, a realm of mystery and prayer, be incorporated into the factual, statistical world of technology?