Items of interest from various sources of religious news and opinion, in print and on the web.
AI Catholic Priest Defrocked. An artificial intelligence “priest” named “Father Justin,” who used algorithms to answer questions about RC theology, has had his virtual plug pulled after two short days online. Catholic Answers, a lay-run apologetics and evangelization group based in El Cajon, California, came up with the AI “priest” as a way to build traffic on their website. They were admittedly unprepared for the immediate torrent of objections from mainline Catholics about the scheme, and were pressured to shut down the chatbot cleric. Some found him creepy. Some didn’t like his voice. Some worried about replacing actual human beings. Some didn’t like his character being a priest. Chris Costello, director of information technology for Catholic Answers defended Father Justin, saying, “We do think artificial intelligence has a usefulness, at least as a starting point.” Several hours after that statement, however, the decision to end Father Justin was announced. McDonald, Matthew. “Catholic Answers Pulls Plug on ‘Father Justin’ AI Priest.” Nation. NCRegister.com, 24 Apr. 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024.