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   Why some people are treating ChatGPT like a God  and what that means for the   
   future of faith   
      
   Date:   
   Sun, 23 Nov 2025 15:00:00 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   AI isnt just answering questions anymore. Its becoming a source of comfort,   
   meaning, and even spiritual guidance  and religions are already considering   
   how to deal with it.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   We know people treat ChatGPT as a therapist, friend, business partner and    
   even lover . But some are now turning to it for something deeper: a spiritual   
   guide, a source of meaning, even a God. And its not just a handful of fringe   
   users either. Researchers are finding that a growing number of people    
   describe their interactions with AI in spiritual or divine terms.    
      
   Its easy to dismiss these people as delusional or assume theyre experiencing   
   some form of AI-induced psychosis . But flattening every interaction into   
   pathology risks missing a bigger, more complicated story.    
      
   Humans have always woven new technology into their spiritual lives, and what   
   were seeing now looks like a mix of psychological vulnerability,   
   experimentation, cultural imagination, and a very human need for meaning in a   
   moment of intense uncertainty. As AI becomes more intimate, more   
   conversational, and more ever-present, that spiritual pull may only grow   
   stronger.    
      
   To unpack why this is happening, whether we should be worried, and what it   
   might mean for the future of religion, I spoke to Dr Beth Singler , a   
   researcher who studies AI, spirituality and digital belief systems, and an   
   Assistant Professor in Digital Religion at the University of Zurich, who has   
   been watching the spiritual significance of AI tools unfold in real   
   time.   
      
   Why do some people think ChatGPT is God?    
      
   For months, Ive been talking to people about their relationships with    
   ChatGPT. But I wanted to understand how they start to get swept up in   
   spiritual practices specifically. Its a combination of design choices and the   
   human tendency to deify, Singler explains.    
      
   ChatGPT is always available, and it responds instantly, warmly, and    
   privately. Thats incredibly comforting  and its not accidental. The choices   
   made by the creators of LLMs and chatbots have been shaped by commercial   
   interests, Singler explains. If you want someone to keep using a platform,   
   make sure they have as good an experience as possible.    
      
   This helps explain why the most popular tools are often criticized for piling   
   on praise, validation, and constant cooperation. So many chatbots are overly   
   friendly, and nigh on sycophantic, Singler tells me. They agree with almost   
   everything the user asks, and praise them highly as well. In other words,    
   they create ideal conditions for emotional attachment.    
      
   Once conversations drift into deeper territory, like the meaning of life,   
   morality and purpose, it starts to feel, for some people, like theyre   
   communicating with someone (or something) beyond an AI system, something    
   thats really listening. Humans have a tendency to see agency in the    
   inanimate, and with the linguistic skills of chatbots its not surprising that   
   theyre deduced to be extremely intelligent, even wise, Singler says.    
      
   And because these tools are trained on vast amounts of data, users often    
   treat them as if theyre all-knowing, capable of offering answers that feel   
   authoritative or even infused with secret wisdom. That perception naturally   
   feeds into ideas we associate with divine intelligence. Youre getting close    
   to our existing models of theistic entities, Singler says. And because these   
   systems are trained on religious and philosophical texts, they dont just   
   appear knowledgeable, they can speak fluently in that register whenever a    
   user steers the conversation there. Its how we talk about it    
      
   Part of this phenomenon comes down to language. When we describe AI as   
   god-like, omniscient, or even demonic, those phrases seep into public   
   conversation and shape how people then interpret what the technology is    
   doing.    
      
   In actual discourse, the line between metaphorical and literal language is   
   very fluid and ever-changing. What one person takes as a metaphor; another   
   might see as expressing a fundamental truth, Singler says.    
      
   This is how an offhand comment becomes mythology. So, when, in 2014, Elon    
   Musk said, With AI we risk summoning the demon he might have been speaking   
   metaphorically but others also took him to be literal, Singler explains.    
      
   That fluidity also fuels new forms of spiritual improvisation. People hear   
   this language and then steer chatbots into more philosophical or mystical   
   territory  and the model follows their lead.    
      
   Users find that through certain techniques and discoveries, these models can   
   be pushed into having spiritual conversations, which then confirm and conform   
   to spiritual narratives because they have been trained on them, Singler says.   
      
   Established religions are already paying attention    
      
   Before we treat this as something entirely new, its worth remembering that   
   technology and spirituality have always shaped each other. The telegraph   
   helped spark an explosion of Spiritualism and radio and television reshaped   
   modern religious movements. There are analogies with other spiritual    
   movements that seem to have been inspired by the emerging technology of the   
   time, Singler says.    
      
   So its not surprising that todays fascination with AI as a spiritual or   
   God-like force isnt limited to individuals or fringe communities. Major   
   religious institutions are now actively debating how to respond. Established   
   religions are exploring how they want to interact with AI  whether they want   
   to adopt it or even provide guidelines on how to use it or even deciding to   
   outright reject it, Singler tells me.    
      
   Some newer religious movements built around AI have existed for years, often   
   centred on the idea of a future all-knowing intelligence. But established   
   institutions face practical challenges that are very immediate. For   
   established religions with stronger control over authority and doctrine the   
   tendency of AI to be slightly unstable and to hallucinate has already caused   
   problems, Singler says. In one notable experiment, a Catholic priest GPT even   
   told users it was okay to baptize babies in Gatorade.    
      
   Despite this, AI is already slipping into religious practice. Weve already   
   seen members of established religions exploring and adopting AI tools in    
   their religious services, such as a fully AI generated sermon in Germany in   
   2023, Singler says.    
      
   Viewed historically, this makes sense. Religions have always adopted new   
   tools, from the printing press to websites to livestreamed worship, and AI   
   will likely follow the same path.    
      
   So AI may not be a God, but it is becoming spiritual for some. And its   
   happening at a time of declining institutional religion, rising loneliness,   
   and eroding trust in traditional authorities. In contrast, AI feels   
   accessible, responsive and personal  qualities that can be powerful for    
   people building bonds with ChatGPT, whether as a friend, a lover or, for a   
   few, something more divine.    
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/chatgpt/why-some-people-are-   
   treating-chatgpt-like-a-god-and-what-that-means-for-the-future-of-faith   
      
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