God and robots: Will AI transform religion?

"God and robots: Will AI transform religion?" BBC News / Technology. 6:14-minute, posted 20 October 2021 and available as of 21 October 2021 at link.[1] Reporter: Sofia Bettiza; Video Journalist: Eloise Alanna; Researcher: Jessica Furst; Executive producers: Katie Alston, Claire Williams; Extra cameras: Shiho Fukada, Robert Timothy.

From the on-line blurb:

Experts say major global faiths are discussing their relationship with AI, and some are starting to incorporate this technology into their worship. Robot priests can recite prayers, deliver sermons, and even comfort those experiencing a spiritual crisis.

BBC Global Religion reporter Sofia Bettiza has taken a look at whether AI’s relationship with religion is just a gimmick, or whether it can truly transform how people experience faith.

Note for background on artificial intelligence in SF, and possibly as a stepping stone toward the equally interesting question of whether AI — as robots, at least — will develop religion(s); see, e.g., I. Asimov's 1941 short story "Reason" and running motifs of a church — and Hell — for robots in Futurama on turn-of-the-millennium Fox-TV.

RDE, finishing, 21Oct21