CO-SPONSORSHIP: Artificial Intelligence and Religion Unit and Arts, Literature, and Religion Unit

AI and the Search for the Sacred: Arts, Texts, and Social Practices

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, human creativity, or ritual? 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.