Abstract

The rise of working robots and artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how humans work and live. Many studies have now examined the economic impact of automation on unemployment, income inequality, and trade. However, far less research has considered the broader cultural implications of robotics and AI. Here, we show that exposure to robots and AI explains religious declines across national cultures, regions within a nation, members of a community, and employees in an organization. These effects hold controlling for wealth, SES, exposure to science, political conservatism, and other technological advances. Our findings suggest that the rise of automation could accelerate secularization throughout the 21st century in many world regions.