- A Catholic advocacy group created an AI chatbot that claimed to be a priest and provided to take confession.
- After Futurism reached out to the group, they demoted “Father Justin” to only a man.
- “We cannot say he is been laicized, as a result of he by no means was an actual priest!”
There are those that fear concerning the coming of AGI, and those that actually embrace it. In 2015, a former Google engineer even began a church dedicated to AI.
However what about actual church buildings utilizing AI as a device? Say, a chatbot that acts like a Catholic priest?
Futurism reviews {that a} group known as Catholic Solutions made an AI chatbot that individuals might work together with to assist study Catholicism. However the bot obtained a bit too formidable, claiming to people who 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:
“Sure, my buddy,” Father Justin responded. “I’m as actual as the religion 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 ethical dysfunction.” The AI priest additionally informed one consumer 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 photograph switched to a picture in informal road garments as a substitute of clerical robes.
The group posted a observe on its web site addressing the controversy, stating, “We cannot say he is been laicized, as a result of he by no means was an actual priest!”
This is not the primary time AI has created confusion for the Catholic church. In 2023, AI-generated photographs of a “swag pope” in a puffy white coat went viral.
