Generative AI and spiritual direction

The Digital Shepherd: A Comprehensive Examination of the Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on the Landscape of Spiritual Direction and Divine Inquiry

Author

Drew Dickens

Degree

Doctor of Liberal Studies, theological anthropology

Institution

Southern Methodist University, Simmons School of Education & Human Development

Year

2023

DOI

10.5281/zenodo.22985496

Access

Open access, CC BY 4.0

How does generative AI affect the ways people seek spiritual guidance and ask questions of God, and what happens to spiritual direction, discernment, and religious authority when large language models with access to sacred texts become conversation partners in the life of faith?

The dissertation introduces the Digital Shepherd: a role AI may assume in guiding individuals through spiritual exploration and religious practice, much as a traditional spiritual director does. Written in 2023, it anticipated that this role would take shape in apps and programs built for spiritual guidance. That prediction has since become a visible category of products.

1. AI shapes religious inquiry. AI-generated language can significantly affect religious dialogue, reshaping how people interact with perceived divine agents and how they practice discernment.
2. A new guiding role is emerging. AI is positioned to function as a spiritual guide, offering personalized, continuous, and widely accessible support across traditions.
3. The benefits are real. Accessibility, consistency, and availability could open spiritual guidance to people who have never had it.
4. So are the risks. Misinformation, manipulation, and ethical concerns follow when people seek divine insight or future knowledge from language models.
5. Anthropology comes first. Integrating AI into religious life requires the church to define what is essential to being human as AI capabilities advance.
6. A paradigm shift. The fusion of AI and spirituality marks a turning point for spiritual direction, one that calls for mindful, discerning integration rather than either rejection or uncritical adoption.

Spiritual direction is one case of a broader question Drew now studies: AI and spiritual authority. As Christians bring questions about God, Scripture, and suffering to AI, the church needs research, not only opinion, on when people extend spiritual trust to machines and what that trust does to faith.

Researchers and journalists are welcome to contact Drew about this work.

APA

Dickens, D. (2023). The digital shepherd: A comprehensive examination of the impact of generative artificial intelligence on the landscape of spiritual direction and divine inquiry [Doctoral dissertation, Southern Methodist University]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22985496

Chicago

Dickens, Drew. "The Digital Shepherd: A Comprehensive Examination of the Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on the Landscape of Spiritual Direction and Divine Inquiry." Doctoral dissertation, Southern Methodist University, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22985496.

BibTeX

@phdthesis{dickens2023digitalshepherd,
  author = {Dickens, Drew},
  title  = {The Digital Shepherd: A Comprehensive Examination of the Impact
            of Generative Artificial Intelligence on the Landscape of
            Spiritual Direction and Divine Inquiry},
  school = {Southern Methodist University},
  year   = {2023},
  doi    = {10.5281/zenodo.22985496},
  url    = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22985496}
}

Profiles: ORCID 0009-0008-2075-0577, Google Scholar