Rethinking Digital Religion, AI and Culture

Religious or belief organizations address artificial intelligence mostly with two approaches. On the one hand, they defend themselves against oppressive and repressive potential or the legitimate use of AI technologies: China's high-tech surveillance of the Uighur community in Xinyang is an extreme yet realistic and exportable example of how AI could be used to the detriment of the freedom of religion or belief. On the other hand, religious or belief organizations position themselves in the debate on the regulation of AI by providing ethical principles that can be implemented for the sake of human-centered Artificial Intelligence. The participation of religious organizations in the consultation on the White Paper on AI of the European Union (2020) provides a clear example of this second approach. In this polarized frame this Special Issue aims to explore the different theoretical and practical approaches which position religious or belief communities at extremes poles or at the middle gradients of this polarization. Religions indeed have various agency in shaping AI technology, and contributors are invited to provide case studies where it is possible to observe doctrinal and practical involvement in religious communities to the AI debate and the level of their agency in designing, developing, or applying the AI of the future.