Kecerdasan Buatan dan Masa Depan Otoritas Keagamaan: Studi Komparatif tentang Ustadzah AI di Indonesia dan Robot Buddhis di Jepang

Abstrak

This study examines the reconfiguration of religious authority in the age of artificial intelligence through a comparative analysis of AI Ustadzah in Indonesia and the Buddhist robot Mindar in Japan. It focuses on how non-human entities acquire, negotiate, or encounter the limits of legitimacy as religious communicators, particularly in relation to authenticity, epistemology, religious experience, and accountability. The study employs a qualitative comparative design using documentary research and thematic cross-case analysis of academic literature, institutional documents, media reports, and relevant digital materials. The findings indicate that AI Ustadzah primarily challenges human-based religious authority through simulated identity, epistemic opacity, and the disruption of sanad-based legitimacy, whereas Mindar represents a different configuration centered on embodiment, religious symbolism, institutional recognition, and spiritual experience. The study concludes that AI does not simply replace human religious authority; rather, it reconfigures authority into a hybrid form negotiated among religious traditions, institutions, technologies, platforms, and audiences