Saintbots, Godbots, and Gurubots: Teaching Religion and AI by (De)Constructing LLMs

The past two years, students in my “Religion, SciFi, AI, and Non-Human” course have designed and constructed Large Language Model (LLM) chatbots as a semester-length scaffolded assignment designed to teach them fluency with the technology of LLMs and the humanistic critique of their use. The assignment culminates in the creation of “The Oracle,” a chatbot constructed and trained by my students. The assignment has been highly successful as an experiential learning tool to help student understand how AI technologies work, as well as their limitations and drawbacks. By integrating the questions and tools of religious studies, the Oracle project is particularly effective. This AAR paper describes the learning goals, scaffolded assignment design, and student experience of the Oracle, and demonstrates how faculty can use similar approaches to critically engage AI in the classroom from a humanistic perspective highlighting the tools of religious studies.