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Deus ex machina: Half of US Christians trust AI's spiritual advice [View all]
https://www.theregister.com/ai-ml/2026/05/21/deus-ex-machina-half-of-us-christians-trust-ais-spiritual-advice/5244371AI sycophancy + spirituality = uh oh
Who needs a minister when you have an LLM? America's Christian population appears to have found God in precisely the place you'd expect a manifestation of the divine to be spotted in 2026: Amid AI chatbot responses.
A survey of Americans published this week by Evangelical polling outfit Barna sought to discover what Christians thought about AI's ability to serve as a spiritual mentor, and the split is surprisingly even: A full 48 percent of practicing US Christians told the organization that they trusted AI's advice to aid their spiritual growth.
Potentially more surprising than that, 34 percent said spiritual advice dispensed by an AI was just as trustworthy as what they'd get out of a flesh-and-blood pastor. That share rises, unsurprisingly, among younger Christians, with 39 percent of Gen Z respondents and 44 percent of Millennials agreeing that preachers and AI are at trust parity.
. . .
"Christians say they trust AI with spiritual growth, and a meaningful share say its spiritual guidance is as trustworthy as a pastor's--yet large majorities are simultaneously concerned about AI misinterpreting scripture, replacing God, or undermining the role of spiritual leaders, Barna VP of research Daniel Copeland said of the findings, which he called "confounding."
. . .
A survey of Americans published this week by Evangelical polling outfit Barna sought to discover what Christians thought about AI's ability to serve as a spiritual mentor, and the split is surprisingly even: A full 48 percent of practicing US Christians told the organization that they trusted AI's advice to aid their spiritual growth.
Potentially more surprising than that, 34 percent said spiritual advice dispensed by an AI was just as trustworthy as what they'd get out of a flesh-and-blood pastor. That share rises, unsurprisingly, among younger Christians, with 39 percent of Gen Z respondents and 44 percent of Millennials agreeing that preachers and AI are at trust parity.
. . .
"Christians say they trust AI with spiritual growth, and a meaningful share say its spiritual guidance is as trustworthy as a pastor's--yet large majorities are simultaneously concerned about AI misinterpreting scripture, replacing God, or undermining the role of spiritual leaders, Barna VP of research Daniel Copeland said of the findings, which he called "confounding."
. . .
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