Users on Chinese social media are now using prompt engineering as a high tech ritual for spiritual divination.
April 26, 2026
Original Paper
Divination by Prompt: LLM-Mediated Xuanxue on Chinese Social Media
PsyArXiv · rceap_v1
The Takeaway
People are treating large language models as digital oracles to seek guidance on major life events. This practice, known as Xuanxue, turns the act of prompting an AI into a collaborative mystical ceremony. Observers usually view AI as a tool for cold productivity or data analysis. Instead, it is being integrated into ancient religious traditions to provide meaning and comfort. This collision of cutting-edge code and traditional belief systems creates a new form of digital spirituality.
From the abstract
The rapid proliferation of large language models (LLMs) has produced a striking cultural practice: using conversational AI for divination. This paper offers one of the first systematic studies of LLM-mediated divination in the context of Xuanxue (玄学), an internet-native umbrella term for mystical and spiritual practices on Chinese social media. Using a mixed-methods design, we analyze 23,000+ posts and comments from Xiaohongshu and conduct 32 semi-structured interviews with users and professiona