Higher Power 511

With a busy week in the rear-view mirror, and a busy week ahead…today’s 6PM class / ride is just what I’m looking forward to!

With little free time to wrap up a fresh mix, I randomly found this mid-September blog post from 2021, and coincidentally…speaking of HIGHER POWER…I found this New York Times story in my IN BOX this morning:

Chatting with God?

By Lauren Jackson, editor for The Morning and the host of Believing, a new newsletter.

Delphine Collins, a 43-year-old preschool teacher, used to go to McDonald’s for breakfast before work. She’d always order the Big Breakfast — eggs, sausage and pancakes — as the sun turned Detroit’s skyline pink. She stopped going, though, when a woman in her neighborhood was stabbed to death while working there.

Collins, who fled Liberia’s civil war years ago, turned to a spiritual chatbot for comfort. It offered a psalm and said that “the Scriptures remind us of God’s power to heal and restore.” She said it helped.

She isn’t alone. Tens of millions of people are turning to A.I.-powered religious apps that mimic conversations with clergy — or even God.

These apps are rocketing to the top of Apple’s App Store. Bible Chat, a Christian app, has more than 30 million downloads. Hallow, a Catholic app, was Apple’s most-downloaded app at one point last year, ahead of Netflix, Instagram and TikTok. The apps are attracting tens of millions of dollars in investments, and people are paying up to $70 a year for subscriptions. Now, other apps — like Pray.com, a platform that encourages people to pray and has about 25 million downloads — are rolling out chatbots, too.

I’ve been reporting on these apps for a story we published today. It was part of my work on Believing, a new Times newsletter on modern religion and spirituality that we’re launching today.

Below, I explain why these chatbots are so popular, as well as what concerns they raise.

Not sure how I feel about this, but you can read more here (subscription may be required).

Take care…ENJOY THE RIDE!