The Role of Technology in Spirituality

Can you pray with a robot? Will people worship AI like a god? It's not science fiction. It's starting to happen now. But what does it mean if robots become priests, or AIs start offering ethical advice? And how do we know when to trust them?

We’ll talk to MIT social roboticist Cynthia Breazeal about how technology can manipulate our minds and emotions for good or ill, and with religion professor Robert Geraci about how technology is being used in religion, and why AI may need some spiritual training itself.

Watch Cynthia Breazeal’s TED talk here, and find out about her work on the MIT Media Lab website. Find out more about Robert Geraci’s work on his website.

Meet the robots: Nexi, Mindar, and SanTO.