Artificial intelligence shocked some corners of the Catholic community after Catholic Answers, a San Diego, California-based publisher of church resources, introduced an AI chatbot, Father Justin, on Monday. The virtual priest was unlocked by the end of the week, but its creators plan to continue allowing the chatbot to simply act as “Justin.”
According to Catholic Answers, “Father Justin” is designed to answer questions about the Catholic faith and is for educational and entertainment purposes only. The group’s website contained the following disclaimer: “At its core, this is a fancy search engine and is not meant to replace real human interaction. If you have difficult questions, please seek guidance from your pastor or spiritual advisor.”
Nevertheless, the launch of AI chatbots and some of their answers were not well received.
“I say this out of respect for you and your work, but…this should have just been a search engine.” U.S. Army Chaplain Fr. mike palmer I have written. “Dressing up as an AI avatar of a soulless priest only creates confusion and makes a mockery of an otherwise good work.”
Other users shared examples of Father Justin’s priestly advice, such as telling one user: gatorade I explained how brothers and sisters can replace holy water during baptism. prepare each other for marriage. Father Justin also accepted the user’s confession and told her that all her sins were forgiven.
Christian scholars, on the other hand, shared an obvious example of a chatbot. poor understanding The authority of the Pope in the Catholic Church.
Author and composer Peter Kwasniewski tweeted: “You shouldn’t ask your computer theological questions any more than you would ask it for spiritual direction or marriage advice.” “This is a wrong idea and should be removed.”
“We are doing our best to allay some people’s concerns about the use of AI,” Catholic Answers COO John Sorensen said on Twitter the day Father Justin launched the service. “I also think that even if this project failed, it would still have been worth doing because my staff and I are far more informed than we were six months ago about how AI can be used in our work. Because they have good ideas.”
This project failed. Catholic Answers effectively removed Justin from his ordination after just two days in office.
“Recently, my colleagues at Catholic Answers and I received a ton of helpful feedback about another new technology: our AI app Fr. Justin,” said Catholic Answers President Christopher Cech. statement. “User comments have shown widespread criticism of the depiction of the AI character as a priest.”
“We chose this character to convey a quality of knowledge and authority, and it also represents the respect that all of us at Catholic Answers have for the clergy,” he continued. “However, many people have voiced concerns about this choice.”
Check said the decision was made to create a “lay” character for the Catholic Answers app as soon as possible.
“Until then, we have been rendering ‘Fr. Justin is just ‘Justin,”’ Check said. “I’m not saying he was.” [removed from the priesthood] Because he was never a real priest. He is now available to his Catholic.com visitors, thousands of whom are already using the app to great benefit. ”
Catholic Answers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Decryption.
Last summer, as artificial intelligence entered the mainstream, the head of the Catholic Church, Francis, who made headlines for AI deepfakes, sounded the alarm about AI’s destructive potential as a prelude to World Day of Peace.
“Remarkable advances in the field of artificial intelligence are having a rapidly increasing impact on human activity, personal and social life, politics and the economy,” Francis said.
In another speech in December, Francis called for the ethical development of artificial intelligence to serve humanity and promote peace.
The Italian government reportedly confirmed this to the Vatican Press on Friday. vatican news Pope Francis is scheduled to speak on artificial intelligence at the G7 summit in Italy in June.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said: “I am convinced that the Pope’s presence will make a decisive contribution to defining the regulatory, ethical and cultural framework for artificial intelligence.” Stated. speech From Pope John Paul in 1979: “Political activity, whether national or international, originates from humans, is exercised by humans, and is for humans.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.