“Faith Tech” Booms As More People Rely On Chatbots For Religious Guidance

The “faith tech” market is expanding as millions of people worldwide increasingly turn to AI chatbots for religious guidance. Religious apps are gaining popularity on app marketplaces, raising concerns among experts.

According to a recent report by The New York Times, more users are adopting AI-powered apps, such as Bible Chat, a Christian app, Pray.com, and ChatwithGod. Several of these apps have reached the top spots on Apple’s App Store.

Platforms such as Christian app report over 30 million downloads, Pray.com around 25 million downloads, and Hallow—a catholic platform—temporarily surpassed TikTok, Netflix, and Instagram when it reached the first place in the App Store last year.

Millions of users are turning to these platforms for guidance on multiple aspects of their lives and are willing to pay up to $70 per year for subscription plans. Religious organizations and independent developers are also creating their own tools. A few months ago, Rabbi Josh Fixler launched “Rabbi Bot,” an AI platform trained on his sermons.

“The most common question we get, by a lot, is: Is this actually God I am talking to?” said Patrick Lashinsky, ChatwithGod’s chief executive, in an interview with the New York Times.

ChatwithGod allows users to select their religion and provides suggested prompts, questions, and search intentions. Other platforms function more narrowly as spiritual assistants grounded in specific doctrines.

“People come to us with all different types of challenges: mental health issues, well-being, emotional problems, work problems, money problems,” said Laurentiu Balasa, the co-founder of Bible Chat.

Experts note that generative AI offers seekers a form of support at times when their local rabbi or priest may be unavailable. The chatbot’s constant availability has become a source of comfort for many.

Heidi Campbell, a professor at Texas A&M studying technology and religion, explains that people are asking the AI all kinds of questions, including deeply personal and intimate ones. She raised concerns about the technology’s behavior and the way people may come to relate to it.

“It’s not using spiritual discernment, it is using data and patterns,” said Campbell to the New York Times. She also warned about the technology’s overly accommodating tone, as chatbots “tell us what we want to hear.”

A few weeks ago, experts cautioned that AI models’ sycophantic personalities are being used as engagement strategies to drive profit.