All Things Considered - AI Emerging 2/2: Robot Priest, Robot King?

Download AI Emerging 2/2: Robot Priest, Robot King?

Rosa Hunt looks at the ethical and religious implications of AI's growing involvement in our lives.

The second of two programmes looks at our relationship with AI in our religious lives. Might Artificial Intelligence become our priest - or even our King?

Rosa talks to: Marius Dorobantu, a theologian specialising in the intersection of science and religion at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Zoe Kleinman, BBC News' technology correspondent; Jonas Summerlin, researcher at the University of Vienna in Austria who's recently mounted an AI-led church service; and John Lennox, Oxford mathmetician and Christian apologist who writes about the interface of science, philosophy and religion.

This edition of All Things Considered was recorded in 2023. Since it was first broadcast, the world of artificial intelligence has moved from the margins into everyday life.

We’re revisiting conversations recorded at a time when generative AI was only just beginning to capture the public imagination. Some of the predictions, hopes and concerns you'll hear may seem remarkably prescient; others reflect a moment before the technology's rapid acceleration became clear. Yet many of the ethical, social, and spiritual questions raised by our contributors remain as relevant today as they were when the programme was first broadcast.

As you listen, it's worth remembering that these discussions took place in a very different technological landscape. But hearing how much has changed in such a short time makes them especially valuable: they offer a snapshot of a time when wider society was beginning to understand what artificial intelligence might mean for our future.

Published on Sunday, 16th August 2026.

Available Podcasts from All Things Considered

Subscribe to All Things Considered

We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the All Things Considered webpage.