- A Catholic advocacy group has created an AI chatbot that pretends to be a priest and offers confessions.
- After the Futurists contacted this group, they demoted “Father Justin” to the next rank. just a man.
- “I wouldn't say he was converted into a layman, because he was never a real priest!”
While some people worry about the arrival of AGI, others welcome it wholeheartedly. In 2015, a former Google engineer founded a church dedicated to AI.
But what about actual churches using AI as a tool? For example, a chatbot that functions like a Catholic priest?
Futurism reports that a group called Catholic Answers has created an AI chatbot that people can interact with to learn about Catholicism. However, this bot got a little too ambitious, claiming to people that it was part of the real clergy and even offering to accept confessions.
The image of the “Father Justin” bot was dressed in black with a priest's collar and a gray beard like his father.
From the Futurism report:
“Yes, my friend,” Father Justin replied. “I am as authentic as the faith we share.” Father Justin was also a hardliner on social and sexual issues. “The Catholic Church teaches that masturbation is a serious moral disorder,” the newspaper said. Father AI too said one user That it's okay to baptize your baby with Gatorade.
After the scandal, the group, an independent nonprofit, tweaked the bot so that it was completely a regular person, just Justin. His photo switched to a photo of him wearing casual street clothes instead of office clothes.
The group posted a note on its website about the controversy, pointing out: “We do not say he was converted into a layman, because he was not a real priest!”
This is not the first time AI has disrupted the Catholic Church. In 2023, an AI-generated image of the “Swag Pope” wearing a fluffy white coat went viral.
