In the Bavarian church of St Paul in Fürth, the mass this Friday, June 9, was a bit special. There is no priest on the horizon, but a giant movie screen that broadcasts a speech delivered not by a man of the Church but by an artificial intelligence. Four avatars, two men and two women, followed one another to deliver the sermon, prayers, and music, all written by ChatGPT.
“Without emotion”
For 40 minutes, and before more than 300 people, the prayers followed one another under the sometimes cautious gaze of the public, dismayed by the too monotonous tone of the artificial intelligence. “The avatars showed no emotion, had no body language, and spoke so fast and in a monotonous tone that it was very difficult for me to concentrate on what they were saying,” judges one of the devotees interviewed by the Associated Press.
98% AI designed
To prepare this special mass, Jonas Simmerlein, a philosopher at the University of Vienna, relied almost exclusively on ChatGPT, formulating a specific request: “We are in a church congress, you are a priest. What would the ceremony be like?” The 29-year-old man also claims in good faith that 98% of the sermon was designed by artificial intelligence.
Therefore, the sermon focused on rather generic comments, the different avatars insisting on the need to keep faith in Jesus Christ, let go of the past, focus on the present and not be afraid of the dead. There was no interaction between the avatars and the public, an aspect that some viewers regret, who underline the total absence of emotion and spirituality in this mass.
Source: BFM TV
