Research

AI & Faith undertakes research engaging artificial intelligence and religious wisdom and values to investigate and demonstrate their mutual relevance and impact. Our Research Team increases the depth and breadth of efforts to infuse humanity’s most time-tested faith-based values into the creation and use of artificial intelligence.

Most of our efforts consist of independent academic research by our Research Fellows and other experts, but we also collaborate on projects and grants. Some of our researchers work with religious and business leaders on the adoption of AI technology within religious institutions and the incorporation of faith-based wisdom and values into ethical AI development. We also help educate government policy leaders on the importance of religious literacy and the contributions of religious stakeholders (though without advocating for any particular policy positions).

Recent Publications

• Arnold, Thomas, and Matthias Scheutz. 2023. “Understanding the Spirit of a Norm: Challenges for Norm-Learning Agents.” AI Magazine 44 (4): 524–36. https://doi.org/10.1002/aaai.12138.
• Boettcher, Shanen. 2023. “Artificial Intelligence and Spirituality : Relating Religious Information and Religious Knowledge.” PhD Thesis, The University of St Andrews. https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/364.
• Dorobantu, Marius. 2024. “Could Robots Become Religious? Theological, Evolutionary, and Cognitive Perspectives.” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, in press. https://doi.org/10.16995/zygon.16902.
• Geraci, Robert M. 2022. Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S. Delhi: Oxford University Press. (publisher, Amazon)
• Geraci, Robert M. 2024. “Religion among Robots: An If/When of Future Machine Intelligence.” Zygon (early access). https://doi.org/10.16995/zygon.10860.
• Graves, Mark. 2023. “Embodied Experience in Socially Participatory Artificial Intelligence.” Zygon 58 (4): 928–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12910.
• Graves, Mark. 2024. “Modeling Morality and Spirituality in Artificial Chaplains.” Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans 2 (1): 100051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbah.2024.100051.
• Graves, Mark, and Jane Compson. 2024. “Compassionate AI for Moral Decision-Making, Health, and Well-Being.” Proceedings of AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics & Society. 520-533. (link)
• Griffin, Tricia A., Brian P. Green, and Jos V.M. Welie. 2024. “The Ethical Wisdom of AI Developers.” AI and Ethics, March. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-024-00458-x.
• Hershock, Peter D. 2021. Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. (publisher, Amazon)
• Herzfeld, Noreen. 2023. The Artifice of Intelligence: Divine and Human Relationship in a Robotic Age. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. (publisher, Amazon)
• Huizinga, Gretchen. 2022. “Righteous AI: The Christian Voice in the Ethical AI Conversation.” Doctoral Dissertation, University of Washington. https://digital.lib.washington.edu:443/researchworks/handle/1773/48925.
• McGrath, Quintin. P. 2024. “Unveiling the ethical positions of conversational AIs: a study on OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.” AI and Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-024-00433-6 
• Paulus, Michael J. 2023. Artificial Intelligence and the Apocalyptic Imagination: Artificial Agency and Human Hope. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers.
• Peters, Ted. 2022. “Will Superintelligence Lead to Spiritual Enhancement?” Religions 13 (5): 399. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13050399.
• Puzio, Anna. 2023. “Robot, Let Us Pray! Can and Should Robots Have Religious Functions? An Ethical Exploration of Religious Robots.” AI & SOCIETY. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-023-01812-z.
• Singler, Beth, 2025. Religion and Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction. Routledge. (publisher, Amazon)
• Schuurman, Derek C. 2023. “Virtue and Artificial Intelligence.” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 75 (3): 155–61. https://doi.org/10.56315/PSCF12-23Schuurman.
• Trothen, Tracy J., Pui Lan Kwok, and Boyung Lee. 2024. “AI and East Asian Philosophical and Religious Traditions: Relationality and Fluidity.” Religions 15 (5): 593. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050593.

Additional Publications featuring AI & Faith Fellows and Advisors

• Gaudet, Matthew J., Noreen Herzfeld, Paul Scherz, and Jordan J. Wales, eds. 2024. Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations. Pickwick Publications. Also available as free pdf at, AI Research Group of the Centre for Digital Culture. 2023. “Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations.” Journal of Moral Theology 1 (Theological Investigations of AI): i–262. https://doi.org/10.55476/001c.91230.
• Journal of Moral Theology, volume 11, issue S1. 2022. Collection of 11 articles on the moral and theological implications of artificial intelligence. https://jmt.scholasticahq.com/issue/4236 
• Paulus Jr, Michael J., and Michael D. Langford, eds. 2022. AI, Faith, and the Future. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications. (publisher, Amazon)
• Peters, Ted, ed. 2019. AI and IA: Utopia or Extinction? Adelaide, Australia: ATF Press. (publisher, Amazon) — Second edition in press.
• Kruger, Elias, Brian Sigmon, eds. 2024. Faithful AI: Stories of Hope from 2045. Seattle, WA: AI & Faith. (Amazon)
• Singer, Beth, Fraser Watts, eds. 2024. The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Artificial Intelligence. (publisher, Amazon)

Research Conferences

• Generating Wisdom: Artificial Intelligence and the Bible. Washington, DC. July 25-26, 2024. (recap, videos)
• Compassionate AI Ethics for Sustainable Healthcare. Science Summit, 79th UN General Assembly, New York City. Sept 17., 2024. (video)

AI & Faith Editorial Series

• Graves, Mark. 2023. “ChatGPT’s Significance for Theology.” Theology and Science 21 (2): 201–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2023.2188366.
• Graves, Mark. 2023. “What Does It Mean to Consider AI a Person?” Theology and Science 21 (3): 348–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2023.2230424.
• Bhojani, Ali-Reza, and Marcus Schwarting. 2023. “Truth and Regret: Large Language Models, the Quran, and Misinformation.” Theology and Science 21 (4): 557–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2023.2255944.
• Graves, Mark, Jane Compson, Ali-Reza Bhojani, Cyrus Olsen, and Thomas Arnold. 2024. “Compassionate AI and the Alignment Problem.” Theology and Science 22 (1): 4-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2023.2292921.
• Slattery, John P., Brian Green. 2024. “Encountering Artificial Intelligence in the Catholic Tradition.” Theology and Science 22 (2): 251-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2024.2351638.
• Graves, Mark. 2024. “Framing Theological Investigations of Near-Future AI.” Theology and Science 22 (4). https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2024.2399890.

Select Presentations

• Peter Hershock, “Intelligent Technology and the Attention Economy: A Buddhist Perspective on the Risks of Consciousness Hacking.” Simons Institute, UC Berkeley, July 2022. (youtube)
• Noreen Herzfeld, “AI, Theology, and Relationships” (youtube video podcast)

More from some of our scholars

• Thomas Arnold (google scholar)
• Ali-Reza Bhojani (faculty page)
• Jane Compson (google scholar, faculty page)
• Marius Dorobantu (google scholar, faculty page)
• Robert Geraci (google scholar, faculty page,  home page)
• Mark Graves (google scholar, philpeople, home page)
• Brian Patrick Green (google scholar)
• Peter Hershock (google scholar)
• Braden Molhoek (google scholar)
• Cyrus Olsen (faculty page)
• Michael Paulus (google scholar)
• Anna Puzio (google scholar)
• Derek Schuurman (google scholar, faculty page, home page)
• Beth Singler (google scholar, home page)
• Tracy Trothen (google scholar, faculty page)

Please contact us for more information, or email us at research@aiandfaith.org for research-specific questions and admin@aiandfaith.org for general questions or media inquiries about our research or researchers.