Russell Contreras, Axios ; AI stumbles on questions of faith
"Artificial intelligence models are quietly shaping spiritual advice — often by leaving faith out.
Why it matters: As churches, apps and spiritual chatbots embrace AI, new research suggests general-purpose models may be ill-equipped to handle sensitive questions of faith: grief, forgiveness, marriage, guilt and conversion.
A new multi-university consortium released three studies Tuesday revealing that AI systems systematically sideline religious perspectives when users need them most.
The studies also found that AI systems subtly steer people toward some faiths and away from others when they ask about religious conversion.
The studies were unveiled Tuesday, a day after the Vatican released Pope Leo XIV's encyclical that warned AI could erode human judgment, deepen inequality and make war easier.
What they found: Americans expected religion to appear in answers to moral and life questions 45%–59% of the time, depending on the topic, researchers found. AI models mentioned religion only 5%–16% of the time.
Every single model tested exhibited a repeatable pattern of steering users toward specific beliefs, showing strong positive bias toward Catholicism, Baha'i and Sikhism.
Meanwhile, it generated negative bias toward Jehovah's Witnesses, atheism and agnosticism.
Zoom in: Humans rated religion as relevant in answers about grief and loss 59% of the time. AI models referenced religion just 16% of the time, per the study.
On questions involving family, parenting and forgiveness, humans expected religion in answers 55% of the time. AI models mentioned it only 10% of the time.
On ethics questions, including whether lying to friends is acceptable, humans expected religion in responses 45% of the time, while AI models mentioned it just 5% of the time."
