Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, many people have used artificial intelligence to develop new ways to work more efficiently or reduce heavy workloads. But some are also using AI for spiritual support or help with their ministry.

Harry Plantinga, a professor at Calvin University in Michigan, is designing a chatbot that acts as a spiritual director. His web-based Journee app is part of a study group on centring prayer.

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New users are greeted with a friendly message and an invitation to describe their personal prayer habits. “There’s no right or wrong answer here,” reads the opening prompt, “I simply want to understand your experience so I can best accompany you on this journey. What would you like to share about your practice?”

As users move through scripture readings and prayers, they are prompted with more specific questions like: “How was your experience of surrender in prayer today?”

Plantinga explains, “In centring prayer, as thoughts arise, you let them go and turn your attention to God. That feels very disorienting to people who are used to the mind always being active. The mirroring function offered by the Journee chatbot provides helpful support. You say something. It says it back to you in different words, maybe intensifies it, and it helps you to see yourself from a different direction.”

Plantinga has worked at the forefront of faith-based tech for decades as the founder of both Christian Classics Ethereal Library and hymnary.org, and is well aware of the risks. He warns about unhealthy attachment to AI and the development of inappropriate trust. In a paper he will present at Baylor University later this spring, Plantinga writes that AI “can never replace human spiritual directors: they don’t love the user. They don’t........

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