Spiritual AI Guides Young Thais

Bytes and Beliefs: Thailand's Young Seek AI's Gaze into the Future

In a nation where ancient mysticism deeply intertwines with modern life, a new seer has emerged. Artificial intelligence now offers glimpses into destiny, captivating Thailand's youth and sparking a dialogue between timeless tradition and technological frontiers. This digital shift sees sophisticated algorithms providing guidance once sought from human diviners, reshaping how a new generation navigates uncertainty and seeks meaning in an ever-evolving world. The phenomenon reflects a broader embrace of technology in spiritual practices across Southeast Asia.

Digital Divination's Dawn

Whan’s recent consultation regarding her relationship’s trajectory involved an innovative fortune consultant. This advisor indicated one partner displayed moodiness, as the other individual tended towards excessive rumination. The suggestion given was for enhanced mutual openness. However, a sophisticated language model, ChatGPT, not a person skilled in soothsaying, supplied these relational insights. The Thai kingdom, a place with an extensive history of soothsaying, observes individuals like Whan, 28, increasingly among young adults looking to ChatGPT to find responses concerning their futures. Across online platforms, individuals exchange tips on submitting palm photographs for chiromancy and natal charts, documents that illustrate planetary positions at their specific birth moment.

The Appeal of Algorithmic Answers

Typically, arranging a meeting with Whan's preferred human fortune consultant demands scheduling many months beforehand. This also entails a payment of 599 baht, approximately £13.55, for a single session lasting one hour. Consequently, upon encountering online posts commending the precision of ChatGPT’s interpretations, she chose to investigate its capabilities. She typed into the chatbot a query: “Numerous individuals have sought your divinatory skills using birth charts. Can you perform this service for me?” The system gave an affirmative response, then requested her birth’s precise moment, calendar day, and geographic place. This easy access and promptness are principal factors driving AI's expanding appeal in spiritual contexts.

Image Credit - Freepik

Expanding Digital Horizons

Satisfied with her initial interpretation, Whan, requesting her abbreviated name be used for identification, later provided a facial image for a physiognomic assessment. She also assigned ChatGPT the task of evaluating her romantic suitability with her significant other. This willingness to provide personal information to artificial intelligence for spiritual direction signifies a considerable change. Younger generations, at ease with digital communications, perceive AI diviners as a convenient alternative to established practices. This development is part of a wider "FaithTech" movement, where technological advancements meet religious and spiritual engagement, a noteworthy progression in Southeast Asia, an area with diverse faith communities.

The Enduring Legacy of "Mor Doo"

The importance of diviners, or “Mor Doo,” a term signifying “doctors who see,” has origins stretching back many centuries within Thailand. This predominantly Buddhist country has a culture deeply shaped by star-reading and various methods of prediction. These practices extend beyond planetary alignments as understood in some Western customs, also incorporating numerology and the interpretation of omens. The complex fabric of Thai divination blends Hindu and Chinese astrological customs with ancient indigenous beliefs. Prior to Hinduism’s arrival, early Thais followed animism, looking to nature for forecasts by studying lunar cycles and environmental indicators.

A Nation's Trust in Divination

Fortune consultants offer guidance to a broad range of society. Political figures and wealthy business people consider their input for investment choices. Students, feeling apprehensive about examination results or wanting to know more concerning their romantic lives, also look for their insights. This profound cultural integration of divination has, for some, accorded legitimacy to astrology as a method for predicting future events. For others, it functions as a way to uphold tradition, with belief in its efficacy differing among people. Such cultural openness has created a receptive environment for new prediction methods, including those driven by AI.

The Spiritual Economy's Growth

Estimates concerning the financial size of the spiritual products and services sector present some variation. Nevertheless, the Thai Chamber of Commerce University suggested in the past year that its value lay between roughly $304 million and $456 million USD. This amount indicates a strong and expanding spiritual wellness industry. The spiritual wellness application market within Thailand alone accounted for USD 20.6 million in 2023. It anticipates a rise to USD 52.2 million by 2030, showing a forecasted compound annual growth rate of 14.4 percent from 2024 up to 2030.

Image Credit - Freepik

Digital Natives and Spiritual Seeking

Krungsri Bank released research in January that indicated younger people, more than any other age group, demonstrated a tendency to buy such items using the internet. The study also showed that from the growing selection of spiritual assistance available through digital means, applications for fortune-telling attracted the most significant attention from all age demographics. This pattern is additionally supported by the wider Thai market for spiritual wellness apps, which anticipates considerable expansion. The iOS platform, specifically, is experiencing rapid development in this market area.

TikTok Wizards and AI Guides

Jirapat Wangcharoen, a 27-year-old content creator who focuses on star-lore and spiritual topics, has gained advantages from this increasing trend. Via "Nesh the Wizard," his TikTok profile, he has circulated advice that uses ChatGPT. One particular video disseminated in the prior October received positive feedback from many thousands of individuals. His efforts demonstrate how social media functions as an effective channel for this emerging type of spiritual inquiry, rendering AI-generated insights easily accessible to a wide viewership. This reflects a larger movement where hashtags like #AITarot attract millions of views.

AI as a Personal Navigator

While pursuing his Master’s degree in Australia, Jirapat Wangcharoen examined AI's utility as an individual guidance system. He reported his main finding was that people strongly wish to diminish their anxieties as swiftly as feasible. He noticed that if a question emerges late into the night, perhaps around 1 a.m., individuals would rather not dwell on it. They instead access platforms like ChatGPT or participate in TikTok live interactions to ask their questions. This promptness satisfies a fundamental desire for quick reassurance in a progressively demanding world.

Image Credit - Freepik

The Youth Preference for Digital Interaction

Jirapat Wangcharoen also mentioned that younger people often find communicating with automated systems less daunting than conversing with humans. Although people can find human soothsayers easily on internet platforms or often observe them at tables situated close to temples, individuals commonly prefer to consult an individual they have confidence in from earlier interactions or someone who has received a positive referral. This choice, however, might require a waiting interval for a scheduled meeting, thereby increasing the attractiveness of instantly available AI options for some.

Instability Fuels Search for Meaning

Ruchi Agarwal, who is an assistant anthropology professor at Mahidol University, remarked that inquisitiveness about what lies ahead tends to grow during times of uncertainty. She elaborated that a review of past patterns shows that throughout economic or political upheavals, there was consistently an increased quest for communicators with spirits or divinatory advisors. Such actions acted as a mental comfort or a way to find some type of answer to the ambiguities people encountered. This occurrence continues with contemporary young individuals.

Modern Youth and Digital Solace

Contemporary young individuals have experienced political turbulence and the worldwide health crisis. Ruchi Agarwal additionally describes them as being "more isolated and increasingly connected to online platforms." This generation's distinct experiences and deep immersion in digital environments lead them to investigate AI for direction and purpose. The pursuit of emotional strength within a volatile world motivates this conduct. The common feeling of reduced agency among young people frequently prompts them to look for outside sources of understanding, including technologically sophisticated ones.

AI in Education and Guidance

The Thai administration and academic bodies are likewise investigating AI's capabilities. King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) created "Knowva," Thailand's premier AI guidance counsellor chatbot, through a collaboration with AWS. This application intends to assist students in identifying strengths, career options, and educational courses, consequently diminishing educational disparity, particularly in isolated regions. KMITL has intentions to develop Knowva into a "digital lifelong teacher." UNICEF and UNESCO are also working with the Thai authorities to guarantee that digital tools, including AI, provide advantages to all students, customising learning and broadening accessibility.

Tourism Embraces AI Divination

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) introduced an initiative powered by AI, "Mu Thua Thai Pai Kub AI," designed to encourage spiritual tourism. This scheme customises travel plans according to astrological indicators and birth dates, suggesting sacred temples, scenic locations, and cultural points of interest. The application, anticipated for release by late 2024, forms a component of TAT's approach to leverage the expanding "spiritual economy." This endeavor also involves young people through design competitions for tarot cards intended for incorporation into the application.

Image Credit - Freepik

The Human Element in Question

Worries have arisen about the potential dangers of giving personal information, such as photographs or birth specifics, to AI applications. Views differ on whether ChatGPT and comparable AI utilities will possess lasting appeal for those keen on astrology. Master Par, a practitioner of astrology within Bangkok's Huai Khwang district, an area celebrated for its widely visited Ganesha sacred site and its numerous seers, agrees that younger people are actively seeking significance. She perceives this as a means of developing emotional fortitude in an unpredictable world, observing a diminished sense of agency among the youth.

AI's Capacity for Guidance

Ajarn Par acknowledges that ChatGPT could potentially transmit information concerning astrological concepts. Nevertheless, she expresses reservations about its ultimate practical benefits. She clearly stated that offering suitable direction requires accumulated life experience. She also mentioned that human diviners possess the advantage of inherent human insight. This view echoes a wider discussion about whether algorithms can genuinely mimic the subtle comprehension and empathy frequently linked with human spiritual counselors.

The Therapist Analogy

Ajarn Par compares the function of diviners to the role of therapists. They are people individuals can approach during their most trying times. She asserted that a computer is incapable of emulating any of these human attributes. She emphasized that an automated system lacks the capacity to connect with human emotions. This underscores a basic distinction: AI functions based on data and recognized patterns, whereas human engagement entails emotional bonds and a profundity of understanding shaped by individual background and fellow-feeling.

Data Privacy and Algorithmic Bias

Employing AI for the processing of extensive personal data for divination purposes brings up considerable ethical questions related to data privacy. Guaranteeing informed agreement, openness about data handling, and safeguarding against unapproved access are critically important. Entities must adhere to regulatory structures to cultivate confidence. Moreover, AI algorithms might sustain or worsen pre-existing biases found in their training information, possibly resulting in unjust or discriminatory results in the guidance offered. The "black box" characteristic of many AI frameworks also complicates efforts to grasp their operational logic.

Image Credit - Freepik

Limitations of AI in Mental Well-being

While AI applications for mental health such as Youper, Wysa, and Headspace provide readily available assistance, specialists advise against ChatGPT substituting for human therapists. Artificial intelligence does not have the emotional acuity, empathetic capacity, or the skill to interpret delicate nonverbal signals that are vital for successful therapy. It cannot forge authentic therapeutic connections or deliver the clinical discernment of a qualified professional. AI might reflect user emotions instead of productively questioning detrimental thought processes, and a danger of incorrect information or "hallucinations" exists.

The Best of Both Worlds?

For Whan, seeking advice from both human seers and ChatGPT presents clear benefits. She clarified that when engaging a person for divination, one can witness their facial expressions and direct responses, nurturing a personal link. In contrast, regarding artificial intelligence, she pointed out the capacity to utilize it immediately and to present many subsequent inquiries. This implies some people might not view AI to entirely substitute for human interaction but rather as an additional resource, providing ease of use and constant availability.

Future Trajectories: Coexistence or Competition?

The increasing application of AI for spiritual guidance and mental wellness in Thailand illustrates a multifaceted interaction between ancient customs and contemporary technology. While artificial intelligence delivers unparalleled accessibility and data-analysis capabilities, it currently cannot emulate the refined empathy and accumulated experience of human experts. The future probably entails a combined strategy, where individuals use AI for rapid understandings or initial investigations while still pursuing human interaction for more profound, more individualized counsel. The progression of "FaithTech" throughout Southeast Asia indicates a growing assimilation of technology into spiritual existence, transforming practices but not necessarily supplanting the fundamental human requirement for significance and interpersonal bonds.