Religion and AI Romance in Popular Media

Amanda Furiasse and her contributors explore representations of AI-mediated romance in popular culture as a site for religious and theological inquiry.On a seemingly daily basis, artificial intelligence (AI) becomes further integrated into our everyday lives, appearing even in the realms of romance and romantic relationships. Furiasse and her contributors claim that AI-mediated romance ushers in a world where love and romantic affection are no longer cultivated through divine mystery or moral struggle, but optimized through algorithms and mass consumption. This edited collection’s thirteen chapters consider how the grand theological narratives that once anchored human desire are being rearticulated through the practices, metaphors, and emotional infrastructures of digital life. This volume challenges the common assumption that technology erodes or undermines religious meaning and seeks to demonstrate that stories of human-AI intimacy envision futures where technology and religious meaning coexist in new and transformative ways. Examining films, television, literature, and digital narratives, Furiasse and her contributors query how popular media negotiates AI-mediated intimacies between humans and machines, arguing that stories of AI romance rearticulate, contest, and transform major religious questions.