I always thought that I would make a good preacher. I have a commanding voice, a flair for the dramatic, and I’m a master bullshit artist. Unfortunately, I was also born with a conscience, which means that I don’t have it in me to lie to people for a living. I’ll leave that over to those that have no compunction against telling lies.

I’ve written often about the fact that there is a “priest” crisis in the developed world. Outside of Africa, many places are finding it hard to recruit new pastors, and as a result, religious folks are turning to technology for their spiritual needs.

About 44% of practicing Christians say they use AI “very often” or “often” in their personal lives. This share is 13 percentage points higher than the 31% of U.S. adults overall who fall in the category of AI engagement. Only 29% of non-practicing Christians reported the same engagement.
Most Christians use AI for learning, getting advice or improving their writing much more than for interpreting Scripture or spiritual guidance.

At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before the only entites preaching this stuff will be AI chatbots. No doubt the programmers will be sure to engineer the algorithm so that it’s dispensing advice as much as it is soliciting the faithful for money. After all, despite the claim that they work for free, there is a propensity of outreached hands and baskets demanding a percentage of your wealth, usually right after telling you that their God is less than pleased with you (but his son loves you).

Since AI has a tendancy to invent things outright, and also seems to be giving people serious mental issues, how long before someone claims that God is talking to them through an AI bot, and that it commands them to all manner of attrocities? I’m counting the days at this point.