Application of Artificial Intelligence in Religious Education: Possibilities, Limitations and Focal Points

Abstract

As religious education aims to prepare students for responsible participation in an increasingly techno­logical society, the question of whether and to what extent Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used in this subject is becoming increasingly relevant. Against this background, the purpose of this article is threefold. First of all, the terminology and the functioning of AI will be explained in order, in a second step, to present exemplary possibilities and limits of the application of AI for the realization of the three fundamental tasks of religious education, i. e. within the framework of the imparting of structured and life-relevant basic knowledge about the faith of the church, the familiarization with forms of lived faith, and the promotion of religious dialogue and judgment. Finally, the paper outlines four key issues that emerge from the analysis and discusses - in relation to religious teaching and learning processes - the question of losses through the use of AI, the undermining of students' subjectivation, the reinforcement of prejudices or discrimination through questionable quality and creation processes of AI training data, as well as data protection and security issues, limited portability, and the high costs of AI.