- A Catholic advocacy group created an AI chatbot that claimed to be a priest and supplied to take confession.
- After Futurism reached out to the group, they demoted “Father Justin” to only a man.
- “We won’t say he’s been laicized, because he never was a real priest!”
There are those that fear in regards to the coming of AGI, and those that actually embrace it. In 2015, a former Google engineer even began a church dedicated to AI.
But what about actual church buildings utilizing AI as a instrument? Say, a chatbot that acts like a Catholic priest?
Futurism stories {that a} group known as Catholic Answers made an AI chatbot that folks may work together with to assist find out about Catholicism. But the bot received just a little too formidable, claiming to those that it was an actual member of the clergy, and even providing to take confession.
The picture for the “Fr Justin” bot was clad in black with a priest’s collar and a fatherly grey beard.
From Futurism’s report:
“Yes, my friend,” Father Justin responded. “I am as real as the faith we share.” Father Justin was additionally a hardliner on social and sexual points. “The Catholic Church,” it informed us, “teaches that masturbation is a grave moral disorder.” The AI priest additionally informed one person that it was okay to baptize a child in Gatorade.
After the scandal, the group — which is an unbiased nonprofit — tweaked the bot in order that it was firmly a layperson, simply Justin. His picture switched to a picture in informal avenue garments as an alternative of clerical robes.
The group posted a notice on its web site addressing the controversy, mentioning, “We won’t say he’s been laicized, because he never was a real priest!”
This is not the primary time AI has created confusion for the Catholic church. In 2023, AI-generated pictures of a “swag pope” in a puffy white coat went viral.