To make AI morally good, tech companies are turning to religion. But some say it isn't that simple

LOS ANGELES (AP) — As tech companies race to build the most powerful artificial intelligence, some are also asking how to teach a chatbot right from wrong. Their answer? Religion.

“These are not questions a lab can answer,” Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah said earlier this year at the Vatican’s presentation of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on AI. “They are questions traditions like yours have carried for millennia.”

Amid this much-discussed turn to faith, there has been little public scrutiny surrounding what exactly these technology companies think religion is — and, perhaps more important, what they hope to get out of it.

As executives sound the alarm about AI's destructive potential and debate the need to develop morally good models, they are increasingly seeking input from philosophers and faith leaders. The executives' philosophy goes something like this: that religion can help inform AI to be morally good in an environment where fears about it — founded and unfounded — are hopscotching across the culture.

Because these companies are not bound to a particular religion, the goal is often quite broad — an aggregate of moral ideas that can inform their models. “What I think ChatGPT should do is reflect that weighted average, or whatever, of humanity’s moral view,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last year.

But experts and adherents alike warn that this idea fails to reckon with how different traditions and worldviews can often contradict one another. In short, they say, it's not exactly how religion works.

For decades, scholars have pushed back against a widespread view of religion as a set of rules or principles that can be divorced from the “messy, practical, ad hoc” ways adherents live, argues Webb Keane, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan.

The idea that religion can be separated from things like culture and politics remains entrenched, even though it suffuses both in many ways. Some worry that AI companies, as they ask various faith leaders to answer ethical questions, will further perpetuate a theory of religion that fails to recognize the importance of doctrine, ritual and relationships.

Here's the issue, Keane argues: If you assume that religion overall can offer a distinct set of extractable moral principles, using it to train AI risks prioritizing certain traditions and distorting others — particularly when it comes to faiths that do not see themselves primarily as a system of ethics.

“There’s a very conventional way of thinking of religion as a rule book,” he said. “It is certainly very tied to scriptural religion, and the scriptural religions at the end of the day really turn out to be the Abrahamic religions.”

That’s not to say these meetings have lacked diverse representation. Nor does it suggest that their engagement with religion hasn’t been thoughtful from the perspective of those in attendance, like Meghan Sullivan, a philosopher of religion who leads an initiative on ethics and AI at the University of Notre Dame.

Though it doesn't enumerate the traditions it has consulted, Anthropic said in a May blog post that they’d met with “scholars, clergy, philosophers and ethicists from more than 15 religious and cross-cultural groups” — a pool they hope to broaden in the future.

Earlier this year, Sullivan went to Anthropic for one of their meetings, which included Christians from different denominations. In contrast to conversations she’d had with other tech companies, she was impressed by the rigorous engagement with religion at Anthropic, which is widely seen as the AI company taking ethics and safety most seriously.

“The culture inside the company is similar to that on a good college campus in the sense that you’ve got a collection of very intellectually curious people,” she said. “These meetings are pretty nerdy — I don’t know if that’s the best way to put it — in a good way.”

Their meeting was split into two parts. First, the company explained their models “in layman’s terms” to those in attendance. Next, the faith leaders responded with feedback and discussions, Sullivan said. “Every kind of moral question that this technology raises — everything from, ‘Do humans have souls?’ to ‘Should third graders be able to access a chatbot for literacy education?’”

Representatives from Meta, Google and Amazon have also met with the Vatican, while Microsoft has been vigorous about its religious outreach.

Religion is generally considered both ancient and universal. And while experts like the late influential scholar of Jonathan Z. Smith concede that is true in some ways, they say it's also not the full picture.

“Man has had his entire history in which to imagine deities and modes of interaction with them. But man, more precisely Western man, has had only the last few centuries in which to imagine religion,” Smith wrote in 1982.

Many scholars of religion today share Smith's view of their field. They call into question the idea that religions are a set of distinct, comparable systems, saying it's a modern notion that can be traced to as late as the 19th century.

Buddhism and Hinduism, for example, were not recognized as clearly bounded traditions by the people who practiced them prior to the arrival of European scholars, says Tomoko Masuzawa, a religious studies scholar who wrote “The Invention of World Religions.” Says Mazuzawa: “All these categories were not native."

Western academics solidified those categories for years, only beginning to seriously reexamine them in the latter half of the 20th century.

Those entrenched ideas about religion — that it is easily comparable across cultures — help explain why Silicon Valley might not feel the need to define its own understanding of it. In an effort to represent various viewpoints, religion is often an obvious way to showcase diversity of thought.

“Somehow, religion becomes a way of kind of mapping out the world," Masuzawa said. “It’s as if the whole world has kind of bought into it.”

Some people want companies to further define terms and intentions to better understand what exactly they hope to gain from religion.

"This work isn’t about aligning our models with any one tradition’s worldview. We want Claude to draw from a full range of viewpoints — religious, secular, political — with equal depth and rigor,” Anthropic said in the blog post. “What we’re after in these conversations is careful, accumulated thinking on how good character actually forms.”

Large language models work by repeatedly guessing the next word in a sentence after having “learned” the patterns of a huge trove of human-written works, including religious texts.

Paolo Carozza, a member of the independent Meta Oversight Board and a legal expert who studies Catholic social thought and technology, worries that in the quest for accumulation, there is potential for a given tradition's defining characteristics to be lost — in effect, homogenized into something that pulls toward the middle or even favors Western religions.

“Any living, sophisticated tradition over time is capable of interacting with others outside of it and absorbing some new knowledge and growing. But it does so in this organic way," he said. “What AI, I think, often does and potentially does, is not in an organic way, but in a way that just throws it all together, mixes it all up, and therefore makes sense of none of it.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

FILE - An image of St. Peter is projected on a screen during the press preview for the exhibition "Petros eni," which is part of the project "St. Peter's Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience" at the Vatican, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

FILE - People take photos of an idol of Hindu goddess Durga at a makeshift worship venue on the last day of the festival Durga Puja, in Kolkata, India, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)

FILE - Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks at the OpenAI DevDay 2026 conference, Sept. 29, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

FILE - From left, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, talks with theologian Anna Rowlands, and Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah during the presentation of Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, "Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence," at the Vatican, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

Brazilians are voting Sunday in a presidential runoff that pits leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, a far-right ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Bolsonaro, the son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, bested Lula by more than 2.2 million votes in the first round of the election earlier this month. More than 33 million of the nearly 160 million registered voters did not turn out.

The difference between the two candidates is stark. Bolsonaro and Lula have opposing ideological views on issues ranging from U.S.-Brazil relations and climate change to social welfare. A win for Bolsonaro would signify a pivot to the right by Latin America’s most populous country and its largest economy in a year when Trump allies have notched victories in Chile, Peru and Colombia.

Here's the latest:

Eduardo Bolsonaro, presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro’s brother and a 42-year-old former lawmaker, spoke to supporters at a polling station in Miami, Florida. “What we really need is freedom,” Eduardo Bolsonaro said, as he called for judicial reform. “Most of the people here are coming to vote to free Jair Bolsonaro ... we need to reform the judiciary, we need to free the political prisoners.” Eduardo Bolsonaro was sentenced for illegally lobbying the Trump administration. It is unclear whether Eduardo Bolsonaro cast a ballot. Pretrial detainees can vote in elections, but those convicted with a final sentence cannot as their political rights are suspended. Eduardo Bolsonaro’s trial has been finalized and earlier this month, Moraes issued a warrant for his arrest. Eduardo Bolsonaro has lived in the U.S. since 2025 and experts say it is unlikely he will be extradited.

With minutes to go before poll closing time, both presidential candidates are asking Brazil’s electoral court to extend voting hours in some cities. The request from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came after issues in nine states with buses that provide transportation to polls. Flávio Bolsonaro’s is due to heavy rains in the nation’s south. Polls were expected to close nationwide at 5 p.m.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Kássio Nunes, who also heads the country’s electoral court, told journalists in capital Brasilia that some cities are indeed experiencing bus shortages, but did not answer whether the voting hours will be extended. He did not address Bolsonaro’s request in his comments.

While leaving the White House on Sunday, President Donald Trump declined to endorse anyone in Brazil’s presidential election. “I don’t want to get into that,” he told reporters.

But the president added that his administration was tracking the race. “We are watching,” Trump said.

Brazilian newspapers are stressing that Sunday’s runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro will be a nail-biter, though Bolsonaro’s campaign is more optimistic after recent polls.

Folha de S.Paulo cited an analysis by its own pollster to say the election result is still open, but Lula will have to see his voters increase turnout to close the 2.2 million-vote gap between the two in the first round.

Rio de Janeiro-based O Globo, owned by Brazil’s biggest media company, reported that Bolsonaro, who was handpicked by his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, overcame initial fears in the right-wing camp that he would not be a competitive candidate because of recent corruption investigations involving him.

Young and old trickled in and out of a Catholic church in Rio de Janeiro’s famed Copacabana neighborhood, where army trucks dotted the beachfront. Some people wore stickers displaying the number 13, corresponding to the digits Lula voters punch into the electronic voting machines, while others the number 22, representing Flávio Bolsonaro at the polls.

Religion became a central theme in the lead-up to the election, after a comment about Jesus by Bolsonaro went viral and triggered fears among many Catholics that he might intend to remove Our Lady of Aparecida as Brazil’s patron saint.

Maria Helena Vilanova, a 76-year-old Bolsonaro voter, said her candidate of choice would never do such a thing. She accused Lula of “giving crumbs” to the poor and said that his famed Bolsa Familia welfare program discourages people from seeking work.

“I shouldn’t have to put up with beggars asking me for money,” she said. “Brazil isn’t growing enough as a country because we’re exploited.”

Jorge Lemos, 72, said he was on his way to vote for Lula. He recalled the quotas introduced during the incumbent’s first two terms, from 2003 to 2010, which enabled his children to study and become a doctor and a dentist.

“I feel like I could never repay the debt I owe Lula,” Lemos, who is originally from Belem in the Amazon region, said. “I went into the church to ask Our Lady of Aparecida to give us strength so that the Brazilian people vote for Lula.”

Brazil was sharply divided across its five main regions in the first round of the presidential election.

Flávio Bolsonaro won in three of the country’s five regions, but Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took the second most populous by wide margins. Bolsonaro won in the populous and rich Southeast, where Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states lie. They will be the key battlegrounds in Sunday's runoff.

Bolsonaro, 45, carried the agribusiness hub of the country’s Center-West and easily won in the South, which borders Uruguay and Argentina. Lula erased much of Bolsonaro’s gains by winning in the Northeast and also triumphed in the North, the region that includes the Amazon rainforest.

Luzia da Souza, who runs a bar in a middle-class neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, is a longtime supporter of incumbent Lula and identified herself as "a Black woman from the periphery.”

“Black people’s lives greatly improved during Lula’s terms,” she said, and blamed Congress — which is largely right-wing — for the slow pace of reform.

“A president doesn’t govern on his own,” da Souza said. “But Lula is a man of the people and he knows what it’s like to be poor. I find it impossible not to vote for him.”

Anderson Falcão, a 43-year-old journalist in Brasilia who sported a red shirt in support of Lula, said he worried about Bolsonaro’s long-term political vision, which he called “exclusionary.”

“It’s a project that harms the less fortunate, harms the worker, women, the forest, the Amazon,” he said.

Brazil’s left was caught off guard when Flávio Bolsonaro bested incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by over 2 million votes in Brazil’s first-round election.

Since then, it has made a clear bet on an unprecedented wave of digital activism and street protests to support Lula. The shift signals a turning point for the left, which has historically struggled to counter the far-right’s dominant online presence and savvy digital strategy.

Between the campaign’s launch on Aug. 16 and up to the first round, Lula and Bolsonaro had more or less the same number of interactions, according to data analytics company Bites. But since the beginning of the second round, the incumbent’s profiles received around 111 million interactions against Bolsonaro’s 31 million, it said.

Lula voted in the city of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where he began his political career as a union leader in the 1960s.

“I am thankful to the Brazilian people. What people did to me in recent days is something I cannot repay,” he said before casting his vote and holding Brazil’s flag in front of the cameras.

He said he was still emotional about Saturday’s demonstration of support from voters in São Paulo. “I don’t think Paulista Avenue had so many people in any political event.”

“It is a lot of generosity, a lot of care, a lot of love. I will be forever grateful,” Lula said.

First lady Rosângela da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and other allies accompanied Lula to the polling station.

Voting is mandatory for literate Brazilians aged 18 to 70. But that has never been a real consideration for nonvoters, who must either submit a formal justification online or at a polling station, or pay a small fine of less than $1.

More than 33 million people did not vote in the first round of the elections on Oct. 4. Some of those were hospitalized, living overseas or working outside their voting areas. And others just chose not to.

Unexcused absences in three consecutive elections freeze tax IDs, block nonvoters from applying to state jobs, hinders loans from state banks, and delays the issuance of passports. For those who don’t want to choose a candidate even when they show up, they can cast blank or null votes.

Fabianne Borges Santoro, a 45-year-old physiotherapist who lives in the neighborhood where Bolsonaro voted, said she voted for change.

“The Workers’ Party has been in power for a long time and the voice of the people is saying that we need change to see improvements in security and the cost of living,” she said, wearing a top featuring Brazil’s national colors, yellow and green. “Things are really expensive and taxes are too high.”

Santoro said she once voted for Lula’s party but now associates it with corruption, particularly after the so-called Operation Car Wash that started in 2014, when the Workers’ Party was in power and entangled dozens of politicians.

Roulen Azeredo, a 76-year-old army reservist, said he had always voted right. He also echoed the desire for a shift in the country’s direction.

“The current government did nothing,” said Azeredo, who hopes Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup, will be freed if the former president’s eldest son wins. “His imprisonment is a disgrace.”

Presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro voted at a local school in Rio de Janeiro just after 8 a.m., accompanied by his wife, Fernanda Bolsonaro. Wearing a light yellow shirt, he smiled and waved to supporters waiting to see him in the rain.

“The time of real change has arrived,” Bolsonaro told journalists. “Brazil can’t go on another four years on its current trajectory.”

As Bolsonaro voted, supporters of the opposition candidate shouted “Lula, thief, your place is in prison,” while fans of the incumbent responded with clapping and the chant “Olé olé olé ola, Lula!” The two anthems are common in demonstrations.

In Brazil, voting is fully electronic — meaning votes are counted much more quickly than in some other countries.

Polls opened at 8 a.m. and will close at 5 p.m. Brasilia time (2000 GMT) in most of the country.

On the ballot: the presidential face-off between Lula and Bolsonaro and six gubernatorial races. Votes are tallied quickly because each ballot box calculates results locally and prints a paper summary. The encrypted data is transmitted via secure networks to the nation’s top electoral court in capital Brasilia, which aggregates and publishes the counts within hours.

The system has been in place since the 1990s with few questioning its efficiency. One of its critics is former President Bolsonaro.

Voters line up to enter a polling station during the presidential runoff in the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is seeking reelection, waves after voting in the presidential runoff in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro makes the victory sign after voting in the presidential runoff in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Soldiers stand guard during the presidential runoff in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Lucas Landau)

A voter stands at a polling station during a presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

A voter stands at a polling station during a presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

A man votes in the presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

A supporter of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is seeking reelection, lines up at a polling station during a presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro makes the victory sign after voting in the presidential runoff in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A man wrapped in a Brazilian flag arrives to vote in the presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Red T-shirts depicting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, and yellow T-shirts depicting opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro hang for sale outside a building ahead of Brazil's presidential runoff election in Autazes, Amazonas state, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)

Supporters of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, crowd Paulista Avenue as his campaign vehicle passes during his final campaign rally ahead of Brazil's presidential runoff election in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

A supporter wears a mask of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, during his final campaign rally on Copacabana beach a day ahead of the presidential runoff election in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

FILE - Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, right, who is running for reelection, gestures as opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro stands beside him during a televised presidential debate one week before the runoff election in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)