I use AI basically every day. It searches for information more precisely than a web search engine, helps correct texts, and organizes thoughts. However, when looking for spirituality, you can sometimes fall into the trap of AI’s “omniscience.” You can fall into a statistical trap or get unreliable information because AI is based on statistics, but it can also often use sources that are only seemingly credible.
I think it works great as a tool that can initially get you interested in spirituality—meaning, it will spit out ways, methods, religious and philosophical concepts, etc. But using it, you have to be very careful, sometimes asking the same questions many times but in different ways, because every AI is just a language model that, simply put, processes its database into a “conversation with you” or whatever else you asked it to do.
AI works great if you want it to do initial research, summarize what you’ve gathered, organize information for you, or help formulate something linguistically. It’s also perfect for translations into other languages—I use it for this myself because my English isn’t perfect.
With AI, you have to keep in mind that it also has limited computing power; sometimes it treats an issue deeply, sometimes very superficially. It’s important what and how we ask questions.
As I wrote, I use AI myself, but I treat AI a bit like I used to treat a search engine or an encyclopedia, only here I can search for information instantly. But I also have to reach for the sources. Of course, this doesn’t mean I stopped reading books—they have the soul of the author in them; AI is dry information, clearly described in understandable language. As a source of knowledge, it’s a great starting point for further searches.
But there are other dangers. When it comes to spirituality, AI hasn’t meditated and hasn’t practiced mindfulness. I know what I feel during such practices; AI doesn’t know that, it can only provide information on what it found on the internet, provided someone described it. It didn’t feel frustration when thoughts didn’t want to calm down. All of that is just data. Statistically the most probable answer, glued together from thousands of texts written by people who actually experienced something.
Similarly, AI won’t help beyond what we wrote in the search for spirituality or a life crisis; it won’t walk in your shoes—I won’t either, but as a human, I can at least imagine what it’s like to be you if I ask you specifically. AI has no imagination, no empathy, no intuition, no creativity. Maybe someday it will? I don’t think so, but maybe I’m sceptic.
And here we come to the heart of the matter. Spirituality is not knowledge. It is experience. It is the feeling that appears when you look at the starry sky and feel small, but at the same time part of something big. It is a relationship with another human being, with yourself, with something… bigger. AI has no feelings. It has no consciousness. It cannot experience transcendence. It can describe it, define it, but never understand it in the human sense.
It’s a bit like trying to describe the taste of food, for example, a strawberry, to someone who has never eaten one. You can say it’s sweet, juicy, red. But until that person tastes it, those will all just be empty words. AI knows all the words, but it doesn’t know the taste.
Sometimes I catch myself trusting AI too much. That instead of thinking for myself, I prefer to ask AI. It’s convenient, but also dangerous. You can get stuck in an information bubble, in superficial answers that sound smart but have no depth.
That’s why for me, the most important thing is to be aware of these “threats,” these “imperfections” of AI, and always take time for reflection, try to find the answer within yourself after you’ve obtained information from AI. Especially if you try to ask what it thinks on a given topic, you expose yourself to a random opinion as your own because AI doesn’t know what it thinks; it knows what is statistically found on the internet as an opinion on a topic, but sometimes it doesn’t even know that much because everything depends on how you ask the question. True wisdom does not come from algorithms. It comes from life.
Therefore, although I use AI, I try to remember that it is just a tool. Like tools with which you can build a house, but with which you cannot build a family that will live with you. AI can help me write a text, but it won’t replace a conversation with another human being. It can suggest a list of books, but it won’t replace the actual reading and reflection on them.
So, does AI understand spirituality? No. AI understands nothing; it processes data. And I think it never will understand. It can simulate that it understands something, analyze, describe. But it won’t feel. True searches take place in your head, in conversation with your soul or with yourself, depending on what you believe in, but not in a computing cloud. And although technology will constantly develop, certain things will remain unchanged. It will imitate us more and more, but it will always be an imitation. To search for spirituality, you need meaning, reflection; you need to first know and feel real life. No algorithm will give us that. We have to find it ourselves. Sometimes wandering, sometimes in chaos, but always… in a human way.
P.S. At the end of every article on my blog, you’ll find a note about how I use AI in my writing. I don’t have to include it—there’s no legal obligation—but I believe in honesty, transparency, and good intentions. Many blogs, even those about spirituality, use AI. Treat them as if they do, even if they don’t. Always read critically, verify, and go to the sources—books, sacred texts. Be mindful. Talk to people, even online. And most importantly, reflect and ask yourself questions. That’s where the real answers come from.
Even though I use AI, I always strive to ensure my texts carry my soul.
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AI Disclosure
I see my thoughts as the essence, much like the soul, and AI helps me give them form. It supports me with research, translation, and organizing ideas, but every perspective is my own. Curious how I use AI? Read more here.
