We’ve always assumed that if there IS a God, that God made us. But what if it ends up being the other way around… and we’re already further along than we think? Artificial intelligence is now offering moral advice, generating new forms of scripture, even simulating conversations with the divine. For some users, the line between useful tool and spiritual authority is already starting to blur. Why does it feel so natural for us to imagine there’s a ghost in the machine? And what happens when the people building AI start to talk and think about their creation in religious terms?

On this episode, we’ll talk to journalist Sigal Samuel about where AI is showing up in religious spaces and how what it becomes will have major consequences for human agency and how we understand our place in the world. And we’ll talk to psychologist Paul Bloom about the quirks of human psychology that make us so prone to see minds, intention, and perhaps even the divine, in the machine. Along the way we’ll also ask: Can AI be morally formed? Could it ever have something like its own spiritual yearning? And if it could, what might it mean for us?

Sigal Samuel is a senior reporter at Vox, where she covers religion, ethics, and the future of consciousness and AI. Check out her writing in Vox’s Future Perfect column and follow her on X or Bluesky.

Paul Bloom is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and the author of several books, including Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil and Against Empathy. Learn more about his work at his website.

Also mentioned on this episode:

Stewart Elliott Guthrie, author of Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion

William Paley, author of Natural Theology (watch on a beach example)

Catholic priest and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who have both influenced the philosophical movement of transhumanism.

Uncertainty about faith can be anxiety provoking and even cause people to leave religion altogether. But that's not the way it works in all traditions. In fact, some are exactly the opposite.

In the second of a special two-part series exploring the promise and perils of doubt in faith, we talk with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl about how debate and questioning are central to the Jewish faith—both as methods for seeking truth and living a spiritual life. We also explore the guardrails that Jewish ritual and wisdom offer for channeling doubt productively to foster growth on a personal level and in the Jewish tradition itself.

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl is the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City. She is the author of Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.

Religion can help provide answers to many questions in life - big and small. And in doing so, give a sense of security and understanding of the world and our place in it. But what happens when doubt starts to creep in?  As more and more people leave organized religion, is doubt the cause, or could learning how to embrace doubt actually be the answer to the modern crisis of faith?

 In the first of this special two part series on doubt and spirituality, we'll talk with author, poet and lecturer Christian Wiman, about what it means to have certainty that God exists, while also harboring major doubts about how to approach the divine.

 And we'll talk to psychologist Julie Exline about how doubt tends to affect those who experience it, and her recommendations for constructive ways to embrace uncertainty for spiritual and personal growth.

Christian Wiman is a Professor at Yale University and is an author and editor of numerous publications. His most recent books include My Bright Abyss and Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian. To engage with more of his work, click here.

Julie Exline,Ph.D. is the Research Director and Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.