The critics are accused historic catholic church Awakened the Swiss Bishop A parish committed blasphemy and heresy when a pseudo-AI dressed up as Christ in a confessional.
The controversial project, which displays an animation of Jesus on a computer monitor in response to questions from parishioners, was developed by Marco Schmidt, the resident theologian at St. Peter's Chapel in Lucerne, and a duo from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences. This is the result of collaboration. Philipp Haslbauer and Aljosa Smolic, Immersive Realities Research Lab, Sciences and Arts;
According to The project, launched in August for the university, explores “the use of virtual characters based on generative artificial intelligence in spiritual contexts.”
“This installation allows visitors to interact with a man-made Jesus Christ in 100 different languages, answering visitors' questions and providing answers,” the university continued in the release. “Can machines speak to people in religious and spiritual ways? To what extent can people ask machines existential questions and accept the answers? How do we behave? The “Deus in Machina” project invites us to think about the limits of technology in relation to religion. ”
Wednesday, chapel again referred to The Jesus-themed chatbot is described as a “God in a machine” using the Latin phrase “Deus in machina”, and is also described as a “celestial hologram” and “experimental art installation” that “opens up intimate spaces”. characterized as.
According to the chapel, one of the supposed benefits of the multilingual “AI Jesus” spewing out data scraped from the internet is that “AI is based on data and algorithms, so it doesn't have to be personal or cultural.” “There is a possibility that we can provide unbiased answers.” Try to surprise them, especially with controversial or sensitive topics. ”
Schmidt, who maintain that a carved statue, which in effect mocks the sacrament, was placed in the confessional for practical, rather than sacramental, reasons; said The Guardian said, “We wanted to see and understand how people would react to the AI Jesus. What would they talk to Jesus? Would they be interested in talking to him? We is probably a pioneer in this field.”
When debating who they wanted to see the machine-generated parrots, Schmidt and his collaborators initially considered someone other than Jesus Christ. “We debated what kind of avatar that would be: a theologian, a person, a saint? But then we realized that the best person was Jesus himself. ,” Schmidt said.
St. Peter's Chapel is playing with fire by deploying chatbots to confess and certify computer-generated answers to potentially “stupid” avatars depicting Christ.
chapel admitted At the outset, he said that “AI Jesus” could “give answers that are incomprehensible and in some cases stupid and absurd.”
“It has nothing to do with sacramental encounters.”
Incomprehension on the part of the chatbot is not the worst thing that can happen. Because the bot relies on online sources, it may disguise views that are contrary to Catholic teachings. As a result, the nominal Catholics behind the project may have unwittingly installed heretical machines wearing the mask of Jesus in their chapels to answer theological questions.
Schmidt also stressed that he had no intention of copying the confession, but he came dangerously close.
The Rev. Thomas Rausch, professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University, said: recently said USA Today argued that the facility is in no way a substitute for the sacrament of reconciliation, citing Canon Law Articles 965 and 966, which emphasize that only priests can hear confessions.
“Confession, or 'reconciliation' as it is commonly referred to today, is a sacrament of the Church, always celebrated in private, with an authorized priest of the Church proclaiming the penitent and God's forgiveness,” Rev. Rausch said. said. “AI is an ecclesiastical, impersonal set of technologies that assembles collections of data and performs programmed readings. It has nothing to do with sacramental encounters.”
David DeCos, a religion professor and ethics expert at Santa Clara University, told the paper: “AI's limitations are being recognized in terms of all the things we miss when we separate ourselves from our bodies, our relationships, our faces, and so on.'' This is a textbook example.” The subtleties and emotions of human memory. ”
The installation may be radical, but the Swiss bishop who oversees the diocese, Bishop Felix Gmur, is equally unconventional.
catholic news agency shown Gmur calls for the ordination of women, the end of priestly celibacy, and the decentralization of the church. he also called For the church to “find meaning” in homosexual unions.
Do you like Blaze News? Avoid censorship and sign up for our newsletter to get articles like this delivered straight to your inbox. Please register here!
