/View.info/ Artificial intelligence is actively entering all spheres of life. Including the spiritual. Computer-prepared worship services are gaining popularity. This causes controversy among believers.
In an unusual format
The face of a dark-skinned, bearded man appears on a huge projector above the altar. “Dear friends, it is a great honor for me to stand here and preach to you,” he says in a monotone voice.
Then there are chants and prayers. Thus, a few days ago, a service was held in the Lutheran church “St. Pavel” in Fürth (Bavaria). The pastor did not get sick and was not absent. It was just replaced by a robot that day.
It was the idea of Jonas Zimmerlein, a theologian and philosopher from the University of Vienna. He set the conditions for the electronic system: “Today is the Day of the Evangelical Church in the city of Fürth. We must hold a service with a sermon.”
“I actually rather went along with the program because about 98 percent of the output came from the machine,” he said.
And indeed: music, solemn hymns and prayer texts were prepared by the neural network. All he had to do was sit back and enjoy the lofty speeches about “overcoming the fear of death” and the importance of “not losing faith in Christ.”
Parishioners were generally impressed. Some filmed the action on their phones. Others steadfastly refused to sing along with the hologram during the Lord’s Prayer.
“I thought it would get worse. But I was pleasantly surprised – everything is so successful. The AI language is well developed, although there were some ‘rough edges’,” he said.
But Hiderose Schmidt, a programmer, counters: the professional interest disappears at the very beginning. The avatar on the screen does not move at all, speaks quickly, which makes it difficult to concentrate.
“No heart, no soul,” she admitted.
This feature was noted by many of those present. It is the emotions with which the priest writes sermons that ultimately make the text “penetrating”.
The author of the idea, Jonas Zimmerlein, assured that he would not replace religious leaders with a soulless mechanism. Rather, he sees AI as an assistant in everyday affairs.
They will lose their jobs
This option has previously been tried in the US. Last December, New Testament scholar and managing editor of the Christian website Mockingbird, Todd Brewer, asked ChatGPTi to write a Christmas sermon.
The request was as detailed as possible: that the text be based on the Gospel of Luke; surely there should be quotes from the works of Karl Barth, Martin Luther, the sayings of Irenaeus of Lyons, and speeches of Barack Obama.
The result of the chat amazed Brewer – the sermon was better than some he had heard before in church. New York Rabbi Joshua Franklin performs a similar procedure. After reading, people applaud.
“I thought truck drivers would lose their jobs to new technology a lot sooner than rabbis,” Franklin said wryly.
After that, America’s spiritual leaders were seriously worried. On the one hand, AI makes life much easier for overly busy or lazy clergy, on the other hand, sooner or later it may “retire” them.
Padre online
There are also disputes in the Catholic Church. Recently, there has also been a strong interest in computational intelligence. At the beginning of March, the Prega chatbot was created and anyone could talk to a digital copy of a 19th century Catholic monk.
The developers “resurrected” Saint Padre Pio of Pietralchina – a Capuchin known for great spirituality and stigmata (wounds on his hands and feet, like the crucified Christ). You can talk to the famous ascetic not only about the past, but also about the present. For example, he knows Pope Francis well.
The basis of the neural network is the writings of the saint, so the vocabulary is identical. True, a sincere conversation with him is not free: you need to specify an email address.
The Vatican addressed this potentially dangerous aspect a few years ago. Therefore, in 2020 he developed the Rome Appeal on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. The document requires the creators of the computer mind to respect the principles of confidentiality, reliability and security.
In the spring, the pope again called on the world to “ethically and responsibly use” AI as he experienced its power firsthand. In March, photos of Francis in a white winter down jacket circulated online. Users naively discussed the Catholic leader’s new style. The forgeries were only discovered by the numerous rings on the hands of the pontiff, which he never wears.
Following the example of the Vatican, there was also talk of developing a “defensive” doctrine in the Russian Orthodox Church. “Any programmed ethics is vicious. Therefore, any system with artificial intelligence that makes a decision for a person is bad,” says Bishop Feoktist (Igumnov), a member of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Interconciliar Commission on Public Life, Culture, Science and information.
At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church does not see any obstacles to the inclusion of AI in human life. It is only important that the algorithm is transparent “to the end users”.
It is true that the clergy clearly opposes the all-too-plausible artificial intelligence. After all, it is expressly “the transfer of the human image and its properties onto inanimate objects.”
Man cannot be replaced
While Christian denominations deal with the humanistic aspect, in some Muslim countries AI is already an integral part of life.
For example, in Saudi Arabia last year they “hired” robotic drivers. They can speak 11 languages. Among the tasks is to explain to the pilgrims how to perform rituals. In neighboring Bahrain, androids are gradually replacing Islamic banking advisers.
In addition, the computer mind turned out to be a good help for scientists. In May, specialists at Tel Aviv University developed a program that can automatically translate ancient religious texts into English.
“Digital tools are becoming more common every year, driven by advances in areas such as optical character recognition and automatic transliteration,” the researchers report.
However, they emphasize: with all the advantages, human knowledge and skills are still indispensable.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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