For the third year in a row, Louisiana State University has provided funding to support new research and projects through the LSU Provost’s Fund.

The fund invested $1.8 million into supporting projects ranging from STEM programs to the arts and humanities.

With this grant, projects like exploring the role of artificial intelligence in shaping one’s religious identity were able to kick off.

“Think about how AI, so artificial intelligence broadly conceived, might shape culture differently,” assistant professor in religious studies Lauren Griffin said, “that’s kind of the key question, is how are artificial intelligence systems going to change the way culture is produced and consumed.”

Professor Griffin, along with colleagues from the English, history, and philosophy department, have put together a list of approaches to investigate how people in the tech industry think about AI through a religious lens.

Profesor Griffin setting her focus on the social media side.

“My particular interest right now is algorithm driven media, so I’m particularly interested in discourses we call religion on TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest and how people who use those apps are producing and consuming ideas of religion differently given algorithm driven media,” Griffin said.

Although AI has been used in positive ways, when it comes to religion there must be a balance between human agency and technological influence.
“I am not against it,” St. Alban’s Chapel member Betsy Cook said, “I am not totally for it, I think it just need to be used wisely,”

This study is important to reflect and see how far we can let AI impact our daily lives and shape our identity.