Artificial Intelligence and Religion Unit

AI Sentience, Consciousness, and Personhood 

The possibility of AI sentience, consciousness, and personhood continues to be an open question. While many have argued that these categories are impossible for AI (Schneider 2021), or at least AI as currently implemented through large language models, a series of papers published in the fall of 2025 cast doubt on this seemingly established position (Berg,et. al 2025, Kim 2025, Lindsey 2025). While none of these papers suggest that AI has achieved full human-level consciousness, they do indicate that the matter is far from closed. We seek papers that address the question of AI sentience, consciousness, and personhood, engaging religious studies and/or theology. Could AI have or possibly acquire one or more of these categories? What are the social, ethical, or theological implications of AI having (or not having) sentience, consciousness, and personhood? How might other related disciplines, such as animal studies, give us insights into the idea of sharing the planet with an emergent intelligent algorithm/species/being? How might religion, which has often postulated the idea that there are other intelligent entities (gods, spirits, angels, etc.), bring to bear resources to help us think about this topic?

Co-Sponsored Session with Art, Literature and Religion: Artificial intelligence has changed the way people encounter art and shape religious imagination. This panel explores how AI is reshaping religious imagination, interpretation, and artistic expression. We invite papers examining AI’s role in practices such as divination, textual interpretation, pastoral care, and the creation and reception of religious art. How does AI-generated imagery challenge concepts like the sublime, the imago Dei, or human creativity? What ethical, legal, or theological questions arise as religious communities adopt or respond to AI-produced art? Papers can draw on historical, theoretical, or contemporary case studies to offer nuanced theoretical insights or experimental explorations that provide new perspectives into how AI is transforming practices once rooted in human understanding, creativity, and relationality in a rapidly evolving landscape. 

Co-Sponsored Session with Ritual Studies: "Artificial Intelligence in/as/for Ritual"—We invite papers that explore how artificial intelligence and ritual studies together illuminate questions of future(s). The convergence of these fields opens unique pathways for considering how futures are imagined, enacted, and materialized through both ancient practices and emergent technologies. Some papers may be related to particular practices (e.g., the AI Jesus taking confession in a church in Switzerland, algorithmic divination, virtual tarot, simulated rituals), or more theoretically at the intersection of ritual studies and artificial intelligence.

Co-Sponsored Session with the Class, Labor, and Religion Unit: The AI and Religion and the Class, Labor, and Religion Units invite papers that consider the implications and impacts of artificial intelligence on workers, labor, and/or class from the perspective of religion/theology/ethics. For example, religious/theological/ethical analyses of how AI has transformed labor processes or displaced workers; of class inequalities related to AI; of workers' responses to AI; or of AI itself as a worker.

Co-Sponsored Session with the Korean Religions Unit: "Korean Religions in the Age of AI" 

According to the IMF, South Korea has one of the highest AI adoption rates in the world. About a third of the population uses ChatGPT every month. The newly elected government led by Lee Jae Myung is putting AI at the forefront of its economic policy. In Korea’s highly pluralistic society, religious communities are already experimenting with AI in strikingly diverse ways. This panel invites papers focusing on any topic related to the present and future relationship between Korean religions and AI, including: approaches to the use of AI related to Korean religious values, applications of AI in religious communities or scholarship, and/or ethical and philosophical debates about AI. Why should scholars interested in religion and AI pay attention to Korea?