God, Human, Machine: Images and Imaginaries of Religion in the Age of AI

About

The international conference God, Human, Machine: Images and Imaginations of Religion in the Age of AI critically examines how AI technologies are reshaping religious images and imaginaries, encompassing the symbolic, affective, and sensory dimensions of religious life and practice across traditions, cultures, and social contexts. Addressing a critical but underexplored dimension of the AI–religion nexus, the conference brings together theoretical and empirical perspectives, connecting scholars working at the intersections of Religious Studies, Anthropology, Art History, and Science and Technology Studies. The programme will feature two keynote lectures, a roundtable discussion, and seven thematic panels, exploring the relationship between human imagination, religious knowledge, and AI systems. Sessions will examine how AI-generated imagery influences religious practices, rituals, and ways of life; analyse creative and critical engagements with AI images and videos in religious contexts; and develop global and comparative perspectives on AI imagery and religion. The conference will contribute to emerging scholarship on religion and AI while offering insights relevant to broader debates on technology, culture, and the human imagination.

Rather than treating AI as a neutral tool, the conference approaches it as a socio-technical system embedded in power relations, epistemic hierarchies, and cultural assumptions. By bringing together scholars from Religious Studies, Anthropology, Art History, and Science and Technology Studies, the conference aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on the implications of AI systems for religious meaning-making through the four interrelated thematic perspectives that structure the programme:

1. Imagination, Revelation, and the Machine
2. Ritual, Practice, and Lived Religion in the Age of AI
3. Futures, Speculations, and Critical Imaginaries
4. Global and Comparative Perspectives on AI and Religion