Belief in the Future

A next-gen religious chatbot (w/ Zohar Atkins)

Belief in the Future

Show Notes

The market in religious chatbots is now quite healthy. If you’re Episcopalian you can go to Ask Cathy; if you’re Catholic there’s Magisterium; if you’re a Latter-day Saint there’s LDSBot; if you’re Muslim there’s Ansari; and if you’re Jewish you can go to Rav Dicta, or one of the services that lets you talk to the avatars of famous historical rabbis.

Zohar Atkins is the creator of Yochai, a chatbot designed for engaging with Jewish texts, rather than just getting answers to Jewish questions. We demoed the newly-launched product and talk about how AI might change Jewish learning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from Belief in the Future

Oct 9, 2026

If you want to have an impact in the world of AI, you need to speak the language of code. That's getting easier, but it's still not easy. And it puts religious leaders at a disadvantage.

Sep 24, 2026

When we talk about relationships with AI, we often focus on whether these machines are alive or sentient. But life and sentience aren't necessary for relationships; in fact, we often have deep relationships with objects and animals—and we often treat people like objects, too.

Sep 3, 2026

AI conversations have a tendency to become so big that you can't really locate yourself within them. For this episode we're flipping the script and talking about a longstanding conversation into which AI has unexpectedly intruded: women's religious leadership.

Aug 21, 2026

How does our inevitable deaths change how we live—and how does fear of loss change how we develop technology? Alex Sarkissian is a death doula and a co-founder of the Buddhism and AI Initiative; he joins us to discuss his recent article on AI and Dying. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 6, 2026

How does AI portray religion? Does it talk about it in the way that most Americans do? Does it treat all religions the same?

See all episodes →