Religion and Emotions Towards Artificial Intelligence: Christians, Non-Christians and Non-Believers

The article aims to determine what is the relationship between someone’s religious affiliation and their emotional reaction(s) in relation to artificial intelligence (AI). Religion is an important element of society’s cultural mosaic, and it undoubtedly influences emotional reactions to AI. This constitutes a premise for examining how one’s religion can influence attitudes toward AI. The research applied an ANOVA variation analysis comparing the emotional reactions of students toward AI depending on their declared religious belonging. This allowed the identification of different emotional responses, such as fear, sadness and anger, among Christian, non-Christian and non-religious participants. The analysis reveals that there are significant differences in the emotional reception of AI between followers of various religions and those declaring themselves as not religious with varied responses in the latter group. Christians display moderate emotions toward AI, with a slight predominance of positive reactions. Non-Christians express slightly more intense feelings, both positive and negative. Non-believers exhibit the greatest variety of emotions with the greatest intensity. The results point to the need of taking religion into account in the process of designing and implementing AI. This may contribute to a greater acceptance of technology in religiously and culturally pluralistic societies.