fatal impact<\/a> of AI failing to understand the nuances of human communication. But there\u2019s a secondary, altogether more concerning possibility: that AI works really, really well.<\/p>\nThe promise of every large language model is the same, whether it be ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. A lack of effort to get what you want, and a lack of friction in receiving it. \u201cBut if AI is substituting for my friend, my librarian, my teacher, my counsellor, my companion, my prayer partner,\u201d Fr Stephen continues, \u201cI become isolated. I’ve lost the things which nurture what it is to be human, a friend, a brother, or a sister.\u201d Things are not meant to be this easy.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s these anthropological questions that bug Fr Stephen, much more than whether AI is going to start a thermonuclear war or not. \u201cBecause that, at least, you have a chance to solve. But you can’t solve the questions about our consciousness easily. As a Christian, they\u2019re on my mind all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr Stephen admits to having a bit of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu with the whole thing. It feels very much like the world has stood here before. Naoise Grenham, a senior policy and research analyst for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, agrees: \u201cThere’s a sense that we were a bit behind when it came to social media. So now, we’re working with AI to be a bit more kind of, if not ahead of the curve, then at least not as far behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
The difference here, he explains, is that in the early 2000s, when society was just starting to worry itself about social media, people in his community were primarily concerned about the content of the tool. Now, they\u2019re worried about the effects of the tool on consciousness itself \u2013 and therefore, the consciousness we have about God.<\/p>\n
Despite his simultaneous excitement and fear over AI, Fr Joseph finds comfort in the physicality of Catholicism. \u201cChristianity in general, and especially Catholicism, are completely embodied religions, and have to stay that way. So that’s why, as a Catholic thinker, I’m not worried that we’ll go kind of stratospheric and become unrooted because we can’t. Things might get very messy, and a lot of people might get broken and hurt on the way, but we\u2019ll come back to the mass, to communion, to community.\u201d<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/p>\n
The Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, located in the former Torre Girona chapel in Barcelona (JOSEP LAGO\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
But could it be exactly this reliance on in-person rituals that puts Catholicism particularly at risk of losing worshippers to AI? These things require a combination of time and effort, which are two concepts we\u2019re stripping more from our lives every day (see: the lack of friction thing), and you could argue that AI stands to be a fairly seamless substitute. The similarities are quite remarkable: both are something omnipresent, available to be called upon at any moment. They hold (or claim to hold) the answers to life\u2019s greatest questions. They can be trusted to hear about your darkest secrets, and won\u2019t tell a soul; will even comfort and absolve you of them. There to provide unwavering guidance and support in your loneliest moments, any time you need. The main difference between God and AI is that one of these things requires getting up and going to church, investing time into a community, building relationships, having discipline, maintaining dedication through doubt, and the frustration and persistence of undertaking a spiritual journey. The other lives inside your phone, for free.<\/p>\n
Bishop Paul Hendricks, the Lead Bishop for AI at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, finds the concept of someone fully replacing God with AI troubling. \u201cI think it is, in a sense, only a matter of time. A relationship with a chatbot is less rewarding, obviously, but also less demanding. I guess that’s the temptation. It’s difficult to envisage, but I can’t help thinking that someone’s bound to, sooner or later.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one example of how AI could become \u2018spiritually unhealthy\u2019, Naoise says. \u201cIf the relationship is overly dependent, that would be, in a Christian Catholic sense, a form of idolatry. Tech or AI could become an idol, and be revered or worshipped, even if kind of unwittingly. It needs to be used as a tool. That distinction is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bishop Paul half-jokes: \u201cI used to have a rather pessimistic rule of thumb. If it’s possible to do a stupid thing, sooner or later, someone’s going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Father Josef Wieneke, pastor at St Matthias Catholic Church in Berlin, remains hopeful that nothing will ever replace the power of church-going, or his physical and spiritual role within his religious community. \u201cThere are lots of professions under threat, but mine isn\u2019t. The Catholic sacraments cannot be performed by a computer. They only work face-to-face,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich may even lead to people becoming more sceptical of the internet, so that the search for what is genuine, real and authentic becomes stronger. We’ve been telling the young people at our church for years: \u2018If you’ve posted some nonsense on the internet, that’s terrible. But if you confess a sin, God will forgive you and never remind you of it again.\u2019 It would be gone forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr Joseph isn\u2019t quite so optimistic. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s where most ordinary people are,\u201d he says, somewhat sadly. \u201cThe slope is so steep that I don\u2019t think most of us are capable of getting off it. That\u2019s why I’m not campaigning that we stop it \u2013 but the other reason is that I think it’s impossible. We’re in an AI race, and no one can stop it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think things will get very bad for a lot of people in the next 10 years, for the reasons that we\u2019ve spoken about. We will go down a slippery slope. We\u2019ll adopt AI uncritically. It will have lots of intended and unintended consequences. Some of those are going to be very dark.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I point out that I can\u2019t follow how this bleak vision of the future chimes with his earlier statements that humanity will overcome the challenges of AI, he disagrees. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a contradiction here. There are enormous benefits and great risks. But I really believe in my Christian faith, and that Christianity is built to survive. I’m hopeful that humanity and human wisdom and the tech people will be able to adjust it before one of the tech companies takes over, or we reach [artificial superintelligence], and we\u2019re blown up. I think we will find our way forward with AI before\u2026\u201d Fr Joseph stops speaking and cocks his head to the side, thinking. \u201cNo, I\u2019m contradicting myself now,\u201d he realises. After pausing for a moment, he continues, nodding, once again assured: \u201cNo, I am hopeful. I’m hopeful that we will find our way before existential annihilation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-424533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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