Researcher Jacob Copeman will lead the project at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) entitled ‘GuruAI: The Global Anthropology of the Transformation of Guruship in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,’ which will delve into how the figure of the guru is evolving in the age of artificial intelligence. The project will be carried out under an Advanced Grant of €2,495,054 and will be developed over five years. In addition to USC, the University of Edinburgh and Regents of the University of California are participating as partners. Jacob Copeman is affiliated with the Institute of Studies and Development of Galicia (IDEGA) and the Territorial Analysis Group (ANTE) at USC.
The ERC Advanced Grant, promoted by the European Research Council (ERC), is aimed at established researchers with a distinguished scientific track record. This call for proposals funds cutting-edge, highly innovative, and ambitious research projects. The ERC Advanced Grants offer funding of up to €2.5 million over five years. In this latest call, more than 3,300 proposals were submitted, of which only 317 were ultimately selected, including the one from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). These figures demonstrate that this is a highly competitive call with a success rate of 9.8%.
Pioneering Study
With the rise of artificial intelligence, virtual assistants designed to offer spiritual guidance and answers to everyday problems are also proliferating. AI-based gurus—systems that emulate personalized guidance, charisma, and devotion—are multiplying worldwide. “Far from being mere novelties, they are conceptual provocations that question the ontological foundations of the guru figure,” emphasizes Jacob Copeman.
In this sense, the project focuses on how guruism—once considered inseparable from embodied charisma and divine inheritance—is being reconfigured through code and data. GuruAI is the first systematic study of this emerging form and introduces new conceptual frameworks: algorithmic sacrilege, when replication violates theological boundaries; code-generated syncretism, when datasets produce hybrid forms of devotion; the ambient guru, where charisma is diffused through an ever-present digital presence; and the paraguru, where guru-like authority emerges beyond religion.
Combining ethnography in multiple locations across India, the United States, Singapore, and the Netherlands with the construction of an experimental prototype (MetaGuru), GuruAI offers urgent comparative perspectives on simulation and the ethical and relational dimensions of digital discipleship. The project provides a new theoretical vision of how the figure of the guru is being reinvented through code, interfaces, and simulations.
