Six-foot robot priests are delivering sermons and conducting funerals (pictured), AI is writing Bible verses and ChatGPT is being consulted as if it was an oracle 

Robotic priests, AI cults and a ‘Bible’ by ChatGPT: Why people around the world are worshipping robots and artificial intelligence:

People around the world are turning to machines as a new religion.

Six-foot robot priests are delivering sermons and conducting funerals, AI is writing Bible verses and ChatGPT is being consulted as if it was an oracle.

Some religious organizations, like the Turing Church founded in 2011, are based on the notion that AI will put human beings on a par with God-like aliens by giving them super intelligence. An expert in human-computer interaction told DailyMail.com that such individuals who are following AI-powered prophets may believe the tech is ‘alive.’ 

The personalized, intelligent-seeming responses offered by bots, such as ChatGPT, are also luring people to seek meaning from the technology, Lars Holmquist, a professor of design and innovation at Nottingham Trent University, told DailyMail.com.

Holmquist said: ‘The results of generative AI are very open for interpretation, so people can read anything into them.  

‘Psychologists have historically proven that humans interpret their interactions with computers like real social relationships. So it’s very possible that people are using AI to find meaning and guidance, much like from religious scriptures, even though there may be no actual meaning there.

‘There have also been examples of people interpreting AI chatbots as being conscious – which they most definitely are not – which raises very interesting theological issues for those who believe humans are a unique creation.’

Robot priest Mindar is six feet four inches tall and has been reciting the Heart Sutra mantra to pilgrims since 2019 at a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan.

With a silicone face and camera ‘eyes,’ it uses AI to detect worshippers and deliver mantras to them in Japanese, which are accompanied by projected Chinese and English translations for foreign visitors.

The life-sized android was developed by the Zen temple and Osaka University roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro at a cost of almost $1 million.

Mindar’s hands, face and shoulders are covered in a silicone synthetic skin, while the rest of the droid’s mechanical innards are clearly visible.

Wiring and blinking lights are visible within the robot’s partially-exposed cranium, as is the tiny video camera installed in its left eye socket, while cables arc around its gender-neutral, aluminum-based body.

The robot can move its arms, head and torso — such as to clasp its hands together in prayer — and it speaks in calm, soothing tones, teaching about compassion and also the dangers of anger, desire, and the ego.

‘You cling to a sense of selfish ego,’ the robot has warned worshippers. ‘Worldly desires are nothing other than a mind lost at sea.’

In a similar vein, Gabriele Trovato’s Sanctified Theomorphic Operator (SanTO) robot works like a ‘Catholic Alexa,’ allowing worshippers to ask faith-related questions.

SanTO is a small ‘social’ machine designed to look like a 17-inch-tall Catholic saint. 

‘The intended main function of SanTO is to be a prayer companion (especially for elderly people), by containing a vast amount of teachings, including the whole Bible,’ reads Trovato’s website.

‘SanTO incorporates elements of sacred art, including the golden ratio, in order to convey the feeling of a sacred object, matching form with functionality.’ 

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