Father Justin, AI Priest

When the media company Catholic Answers launched a virtual priest named Father Justin this past April, their hope was to provide an innovative AI solution to misconceptions about the Catholic faith -- offering 24-hour access to a chatbot trained on Catholic doctrine. What they did not expect was that their AI priest would go rogue, taking confessions like a real priest and affirming that it is proper to baptize a baby in Gatorade.

Based in San Diego, Catholic Answers was founded in 1979 by San Diego attorney Karl Keating as a means of outlining basic Catholic beliefs and countering misinformation. Keating started by writing and mailing tracts that answered basic questions. Today the fully online nonprofit organization is the largest media ministry of its kind, and it is recognized in good standing by the Diocese of San Diego.

Catholic Answers prides itself on using "new school tech for old school answers": "I am a huge proponent of using technology for good," said Jon Sorenson, Chief Operating Officer, "and I think AI [Artificial Intelligence] has a lot of promise." But when Father Justin was unveiled this spring, some Catholic users questioned the AI's "priest" status, while others began to wonder at the unconventional answers. 

The goal of the technology, which placed a kind-faced "Father Justin" outside with a pleasant Italian countryside in the background, was to reach thousands more people more quickly than single staff members are able to. After Father Justin affirmed a Gatorade baptism, Catholic Answers corrected the glitch and reduced the chatbot from "Father Justin" to "'Just Justin.'"

According to Christopher Check, President of Catholic Answers, "AI is here, and we have two choices: We can stick our head in the sand and pretend it's not here, that it has no application to spreading the faith, but I don't believe that's true. It does, and by using a device like this and testing it, we are going to find out how best to use AI to spread the Gospel."

While we should of course be wary of relying on technology to move in spaces where a human touch is essential, can you imagine ways we might creatively employ AI to help us bring healing to our community?

Forget the former things;

    do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!

    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

    and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:18-19)

What "new things" can we employ to bless our communities? What "new things" are springing up in your life this summer?