While Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) capable of the same intellectual activity as humans is likely many years away, Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) projects have already proven they can both exceed humans in some aspects of human intelligence and perform tasks needed by society, such as caring for the elderly. Will AI change human self-perception and even religiosity? How will different religious traditions respond to the coming of AI? Can AI itself be religious? Although we tend to regard AI as something new, the ancient Greeks and Chinese were already speculating about humanoid technologies now becoming real. In this talk, I examine several important questions for religious studies regarding human-AI relations.
Takeshi Kimura is Professor of Religious Studies in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. He received his Ph.D. from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago in 1998. His recent works are on Sustainability and A.I. while his study of Native American religions continues, as well.
Look at the full poster of this event here.