ISSEP-2026-04

GRANT ID#: ISSEP-2026-04

GRANT TITLE: Digital Death: How AI Salience Shapes Meaning, Morality, and Human Significance.

GRANTEE: Oklahoma City University.

PRIMARY INVESTIGATOR: Jeff Sherwood.

GRANT AMOUNT: USD $2,300

DURATION OF GRANT PROJECT: April 15, 2026 – April 15, 2027.

Description of the Project

Executive summary:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) challenges traditional concepts of meaning, purpose, and human uniqueness. The present research examines whether reminders of AI’s rise evoke existential anxiety similar to mortality salience. In a single experiment (N=300), participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: AI salience, mortality salience, or control. Participants will complete both quantitative and qualitative measures of meaning in life, purpose, human exceptionalism, and morality. The project integrates existential psychology and AI ethics to test whether AI salience functions as a novel existential threat that alters meaning regulation and morality. Findings will extend Terror Management Theory into modern technological contexts and reveal how people re-construct purpose when the distinctiveness of being human feels uncertain.

Itemized budget:

Participant compensation (300x$6): $1,800 core data collection.

Platform fees: Prolific expected fee of $300.

Miscellaneous/unexpected fees $200 (in case of poor participant responses needing to be replaced).

Total $2,300.

The total amount approved for this project is USD $2,300.