The 2nd experiment was carried out in a Singapore-based Taoist temple. Here one group of devotees listened to a human preacher and another group heard sermons provided by Pepper, a robot developed by SoftBank Robotics. It is a popular robotic in Japan, where it was first made commercially available in 2015.
” Our research study gets to a point where automation is pervading every task industry, and it suggests that some professions may not be automated so easily. Robots might struggle in occupations, like priests or monks, that need high levels of credibility,” Joshua Conrad Jackson, lead researcher, and a professor at Chicago Booth told ZME Science.
Mindar was established by researchers at Osaka University and it cost 106 million Yen (~$ 755,000). The robot has human-like facial features and during the experiment, it preached sermons from Buddhism to hundreds of individuals who checked out the Kodai-Ji Buddhist temple in Kyoto..
” In both our field research studies, participants who were exposed to a robotic (vs. human) preacher contributed less to the temple, were less most likely to accept circulate leaflets for the temple and were less ready to distribute the message of the sermon. We found these outcomes even when the material of the sermon was similar in the two conditions,” stated Jackson.
” This recommends that there are a lot of people out there who think robots could be effective preachers, however there are more people who arent convinced,” Jackson added.
Its notable that the experiments were performed in nations that are usually very supportive of emerging innovations. In other nations, the robotics would have likely been even less reliable.
However, whats more intriguing is that when the researchers asked the enthusiasts to rate robot and human preachers out of five for credibility (five for highest credibility), it was practically a tie as the average rating of robotics and human preachers were 3.12 and 3.51..
At the end of the first and second experiments, the scientists asked 359 and 239 enthusiasts, respectively, about their views on the robotic preachers. The majority of individuals in both nations considered robot preachers less reliable than their human priests.
Believers are not fond of robots.
These experiments exposed that people are not likely to trust robots as spiritual leaders, and they may even stop providing donations to religious groups that utilize robotic preachers and AI to spread their message..
Testing robot preachers.
Researchers from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business conducted a series of interesting social experiments in which they observed peoples reactions to AI and robot preachers in churches and temples..
Image credits: Aideal Hwa/Unsplash.
As AI is taking on more tasks that were formerly thought about human-only, its not even clear what tasks are really limited to people. AI preachers?
Joshua and his group wanted to see how persuasive and reliable robot preachers can be. They carried out 3 separate experiments. The very first experiment took location in Japan where they used Mindar, a humanoid robotic developed to teach the learning of Buddhism and bring Japanese youth better to their faith. Yes, this currently exists.
What about Christian sermons?
They informed the participants in the second group that an AI program produced the sermon; however to members of the very first group, they stated that a human preacher wrote the preaching. When they asked all of them about their experience, the members in the 2nd group reacted that the preaching was less reputable as it originated from an AI.
Nevertheless, these findings indicate that, for now, robots and religions do not go too well together.
The scientists went for a third experiment and this time it involved a generative AI program and 274 followers of Christianity in the United States. They divided the followers into 2 groups and asked the members of both groups to check out a preaching online..
” We conducted our research in Singapore, the USA, and Japan, so we can not make claims to other cultural contexts where mindsets towards robots or religious authorities are different,” Joshua informed ZME Science..
” Robots and AI programs cant genuinely hold any religious beliefs so spiritual organizations may see a declining dedication from their churchgoers if they rely more on technology than on human leaders who can show their faith,” he included..
In other words, its not so much what the AI is really doing– its how individuals perceive the AI. This is basically a mindset difference, and attitudes towards technology can alter fairly rapidly.
AI preachers? Joshua and his group wanted to see how persuasive and reliable robotic preachers can be. The second experiment was performed in a Singapore-based Taoist temple. Here one group of devotees listened to a human preacher and another group heard preachings delivered by Pepper, a robot developed by SoftBank Robotics. It is a popular robot in Japan, where it was initially made commercially readily available in 2015.
The research study is released in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
