From God to Grief, People Are Asking AI the Big Questions Once Reserved for Clergy

Chatbots are not without their own problems. They’re designed to keep people engaged and subscribing, even if that means leading users into a false sense of reality and encouraging antisocial behavior. As Rebecca Solnit said on KQED’s Forum recently, “Silicon Valley stole us from each other and is now busy trying to sell us alternatives.”

That said, there’s no putting the proverbial genie back in the bottle.

“We have to figure out how to use it well,” said Bruce Reyes-Chow, a progressive Presbyterian pastor in San José. “It’s just like social media. How do we help people use it to the best of its ability and not have it be destructive to our spirit.”

His biggest concern?

“What information is being scraped to feed [AI] responses?,” he said. “Our narrative around Christianity in the United States right now is a version that I rebuke — this kind of nationalist, conservative, evangelical version of Christianity. I’m worried that the version of the tradition that I am part of is going to be skewed by whoever has the most information out there.”

Chatbots will give you what you ask for, but as seen in other areas, if you don’t know what you don’t know, it’s easy to miss AI’s mistakes or “hallucinations.” For instance, if you specify you want progressive Presbyterian wisdom, that’s likely what you’ll get. Then again, who knows to ask for progressive Presbyterian wisdom?

Reyes-Chow is an empty nester now, but he worries about children using chatbots in isolation — especially LGBTQ+ youth — as the culture drifts rightward. Supporters of AI chatbots say they can provide emotional support for young people who feel trapped in unsympathetic families and schools. But Reyes-Chow says that at some point, every child is going to need a supportive community in real life.

That longing for real connection isn’t limited to kids.

“Anyone who’s really listening will eventually sense the hollowness of [AI], right? That it’s not really touching what they’re longing for,” said Orin J. Sofer, a Buddhist meditation teacher in El Cerrito.

Like Reyes-Chow, Sofer has used chatbots to help with writing. AI excels at summarizing dense and voluminous texts, including the King James Bible and the Pali Canon, the core scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. But for those of us not living on a proverbial mountaintop, spiritual growth still requires real human connection.