Nuns jumping from a cupboard or indicating whether they prefer evening or morning prayer while “It’s Tricky” by the hip-hop group Run DMC is playing is not what you might expect to find among a deeply religious congregation. But the Daughters of St. Paul are a new generation of religious sisters. Their order was established to follow the lead of the Apostle, and they use media to spread the word about Christ. With 157,000 followers on TikTok, they have deservedly earned the nickname Media Nuns. Their mission is helped by their genuine warmth. Says Sister Orianne Pietra René, “Not only are we authentically sharing ourselves, because we like to have fun, but are bringing the whole of who Christ is to the whole of the person who is longing for that joy and that vitality, that fullness of life.”
Back in 2019 Sabah Ahmedi, the imam at Baitul Futuh mosque in London, was in a tea shop with a friend. The two were discussing misconceptions about Islam. That talk inspired Ahmedi to build his Young Imam social media brand to “help people understand Islam better.” He posts almost every day. On his sites, he talks both seriously and with humor about everything from such rituals as ablution—“We have to wash before we offer our prayer, because it’s getting in the mindset of cleanliness”—to his favorite coffees.
Artificial Intelligence is helping religious leaders innovate
But even more than people like LaRance, Strauss, and Imam Ahmedi taking to social media to spread the word, religion is being affected by the phenomenal growth of artificial intelligence.
Among these complex technologies are large language models, systems trained on vast amounts of data that can analyze and process language and generate believable humanlike responses.
Some religious leaders have embraced this development. Priest Caru Das Adhikary at Utah’s Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple loves performing, noting, “My interest is in telling stories and doing rap music and putting together songs. I use AI for practically every single composition I make.” He relies on Google Gemini to turn a verse of Sanskrit Hare Krishna text into rap. Caru Das admits that at times what it produces is trite, so he spends time correcting and polishing the words. “It jump-starts me. I work on it, claim it. I make it mine.”
Ed Stetzer, the dean at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology, recently prepared a sermon on a Reformation doctrine called Solus Christus, or in Christ alone. He asked ChatGPT for quotes from second- and third-century church fathers relating to the doctrine. AI offered some examples, but as Stetzer says, AI is not always right: “It gets me started on the trail. There’s some strength to that.”
Others are more circumspect. Since AI technologies are being developed separate from established religious institutions and communities, people accessing them are not interacting with someone who knows them, their family, or why they are seeking something. For instance, those searching for answers from a Jewish perspective might not be interested in one that offers a Southern Baptist interpretation. “We’re losing the personal touch, and we’re losing also the emotion,” says Rabbi Goldschmidt, who has a master’s in computer science from Johns Hopkins University. “What is the social context? What is the spiritual as well as the material status of the human asking this question? There’s no absolute question. There’s no absolute answer.”
Robot priests guide the faithful
Some religions are even starting to incorporate technology into their worship in the form of robot priests. Gabriele Trovato grew up in the Italian port city of Livorno. As a youth he took for granted the religious iconography that suffuses that largely Catholic nation. “In my hometown we have a lot of sacred art. Statues are part of the landscape. Even in the middle of the streets you see niches with the Virgin Mary,” he says. Based on those statues Trovato, an associate professor at Tokyo’s Shibaura Institute of Technology, crafted SanTO (Sanctified Theomorphic Operator).
The small robot has the appearance of a neoclassical saint. It is designed to be accessible for older people as well as those who are isolated or may have mobility issues. Individuals can use an electric candle to touch SanTO’s hands and ask it a question, accessing an extensive database that contains knowledge of the Bible, prayers, and the lives of the saints.
In Beijing’s Longquan Temple there is a robot named Xian’er. With his yellow robe and somewhat perplexed look, as he chants Buddhist mantras and explains the basic principles of faith. An actual size robotic elephant recently replaced a live and chained one, and it takes part in cruelty-free rituals at the Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple in Thrissur, India.