As AI chatbots become a fixture of daily life, people are increasingly turning to them for emotional support and moral guidance. AI developers must work together with faith communities to ensure that their systems embody the shared values that have long shaped human societies.
GENEVA/LONDON—In a recent New York Times essay, Northeastern University psychology professor David DeSteno posed a provocative question: Can religion make AI more moral? Religion, he argued, draws its transformative power not from doctrine or scripture, but from physical rituals such as fasting, breathwork, and communal prayer. Because AI has no body and no capacity for compassion, gratitude, or moral struggle, these mechanisms lie beyond its reach.
GENEVA/LONDON—In a recent New York Times essay, Northeastern University psychology professor David DeSteno posed a provocative question: Can religion make AI more moral? Religion, he argued, draws its transformative power not from doctrine or scripture, but from physical rituals such as fasting, breathwork, and communal prayer. Because AI has no body and no capacity for compassion, gratitude, or moral struggle, these mechanisms lie beyond its reach.