A surprising number of Americans use AI for spiritual reasons. Here’s what they told us

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Artificial intelligence is becoming a tool not only for work and research but also for exploring questions of faith and spirituality, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll.

Ipsos polled 1,011 U.S. adults from Aug. 7 through Aug. 9 of this year. Overall, 61% of respondents said they have used an artificial intelligence tool, such as Google Gemini, ChatGPT, or Claude, for any purpose.

The poll found that 11% of AI users have sought spiritual guidance from artificial intelligence, while 13% have used the technology to generate prayers, and 15% say they have used it to study Scripture.

For Rudy Vazquez, AI provided an alternative when he had questions about the Bible that he felt religious leaders had failed to answer.Vazquez, a 43-year-old construction worker who has attended a nondenominational church in Jacksonville, Fla., for the past two years, recently turned to AI after hearing a passage from Isaiah during a worship service.”I read, you know, the Book (of) Isaiah, and never understood what it really means,” Vazquez said.He said he had been reluctant to ask his pastor for help…