In the German cathedral of Regensburg, the homily pronounced last Sunday by the priest Bernhard Piendl, dedicated to the farewell of Jesus to his disciples in the Gospel of John, contained a particular ingredient. He himself revealed it to the parishioners at mass: part of the sermon had been written by artificial intelligence (AI).
In the pews of the cathedral there were murmurs of astonishment, according to what Piendl later recounted in an interview with Bavarian public television (Bayerischer Rundfunk, BR). “Artificial intelligence explained those phrases from the Gospel, which are not simple, with relative clarity,” said the priest, who does not rule out repeating the operation, although never to write the entire homily. “Artificial intelligence cannot replace the message contained in the Gospel, the personal relationship with God and faith,” he argued.
It is very likely that, by now, many priests in the world have taken the test of testing AI for their writings. However, the impact that artificial intelligence can have in the religious realm goes infinitely beyond its ability to generate acceptable sermons. AI raises deep questions –with ChatGPT as a flagship tool that fascinates and repels at the same time–, and arouses logical fears, by exposing our vulnerability as human beings to still unknown high-capacity technological formats.
Artificial intelligence draws on the wealth produced by human intelligence, and among its possible undesirable consequences is a plausible increase in misinformation and hate speech that already abounds on the internet, along with a tremendous capacity for data tracking.
Global Christian Relief, an American Protestant organization that helps persecuted Christians, has compiled a list of ways in which AI could favor the harassment of religious minorities by governments or by the dominant religion in the country, in non-democratic contexts. Example: facial recognition software, underpinned by artificial intelligence, will make it easier than ever to track and monitor the movements of citizens and groups, a serious threat to minorities.
As for the observance itself, perhaps we are looking at more individualized ways of living the religious experience, a kind of faith 2.0 that has been chewing for years in the digital sphere, especially in countries like the United States, where the vast concept of Religious freedom has historically led to excesses of all kinds, from televangelists to cults.
Artificial intelligence could be exalted and even deified, a risk already intuitively pointed out by science fiction literature and by films of the same genre. Who knows if someday there will be people who elevate artificial intelligence to the status of a creed and worship it.
Although some in the Catholic Church see AI as a positive tool for evangelization, there is concern about the dangers. As early as February 2020, the Vatican called on the technology giants Microsoft and IBM to promote ethics in artificial intelligence, during a conference in Rome attended by executives from both companies, who pledged to do so.
“New forms of regulation should be encouraged to promote transparency and compliance with ethical principles, especially for advanced technologies that have a higher risk of affecting human rights,” Pope Francis warned in a message sent to those gathered. In January this year, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim representatives signed a statement calling for ethicists to be included in the development of artificial intelligence, an urgent appeal.