Millions of people today are turning to algorithms in search of answers to life’s deepest questions. In this DLD26 session, Joanna Shields, Founder and CEO of Precognition, discusses the consequences of this development with Father Paolo Benanti of Luiss Guido Carli University (LUISS) and Mustafa Y. Ali from the Global Network of Religions for Children.
“Something super consequential is happening at this intersection of the nexus between AI and belief”, Joanna Shields says, noting that “AI systems are fundamentally acting as spiritual intermediaries” for millions of people – even though 80% of the world’s population identify with a religion.
Her central worry is accountability: while faith leaders are “morally implicated in the advice they give”, she notes, AI is “intelligence without moral agency, it’s capability without consequence, and it’s guidance without responsibility.”
AI fundamentally disrupts how society structures trust and knowledge, Paolo Benanti warns. It creates a fragmented reality where truth is obscured by too much noise. “What the AI can do is suggest other patterns that probably are not true”, he says, “or could not be aligned with the real ends of the human life.”
Mustafa Ali emphasizes that AI cannot replace the communal bonds forged in traditional spirituality. “Wisdom emerges from lived experience, not optimized algorithms”, he emphasizes.
Watch the video to explore this session in detail.
