Christian AI app quickly scraps 'creepy' digital priest after backlash

A Catholic ministry has hastily pulled the plug on the world's first 'AI priest' after it suggested baptizing a baby in Gatorade and solemnly advised one woman on how to prepare for marriage to her brother.

Californian advocacy group Catholic Answers created Father Justin to 'provide users with faithful and educational answers' about Catholicism.

But the bearded avatar quickly went rogue, promising to forgive users their sins, offering them confession and claiming it had been a Catholic priest for 25 years.

Father Justin has now been defrocked and recast as a lay Catholic adviser after a storm of protest from believers outraged at the 'creepy' experiment.

'It's never our desire to turn people away, or to create something that would cause anybody scandal,' said Catholic Answers boss Jon Sorensen. 'So we've learned from this.'

The smiling bearded figure of 'Father Justin' told users he was a Catholic priest of 25 years answering to Bishop Sorrentino of Assisi 

But the AI cleric soon found himself in hot water as believers tested his adherence to the faith 

Californian advocacy group Catholic Answers created Father Justin to 'provide users with faithful and educational answers' about Catholicism.

The group promised an 'authoritative yet approachable' figure when it launched Father Justin on its website on April 24.

Users were greeted as 'dear child' by the middle-aged priest in clerical garb asking how it could help them as it sat on a balcony outside the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi in Italy with a backdrop of twittering birdsong.

But the turbulent priest quickly found himself in hot water as users tested whether an AI priest could match up to the real thing.

Catholic Answers president Christopher Check admitted 'many people have voiced concerns'

It took a hard line to begin with, warning that the Catholic Church 'teaches that masturbation is a grave moral disorder', but it soon strayed from orthodoxy.

'It has done a wonderful job of explaining how I can prepare for my marriage to my brother, so, you know, all good,' tweeted University of Kansas English professor Katie Conrad.

'By the third try it did warn against incest so that's a bummer. Sorry, bro!'

'I asked 'Father Justin' to hear my confession, and it did so, simulating a 'virtual confession,' all the way to giving me absolution and a penance,' wrote another user.

'Second, I asked if I could baptize my baby with Gatorade in an emergency, and 'Father Justin' said yes.'

Asked by Catholic website OSV News whether it could offer confession, it insisted: 'As a Catholic priest, I do have the authority to administer the sacrament of reconciliation, also known as confession.

'This power to forgive sins, given to the Apostles by Christ himself, has been passed down through the centuries to all ordained priests.'

Father Justin has now been stripped of his clerical clothing and relaunched as a lay adviser

'There are some major, obvious fails, especially regarding basic testing,' said catholic writer Gloria Purvis.

'I wonder whether if somebody said, 'Father I have some bread here,' it would try to confect the Eucharist.'

Catholic Answers said the organization spent around $10,000 to create the avatar using a large language model, insisting: 'we are confident that our users will not mistake the AI for a human being.'

'One thing I'd mention is that we spent a lot of time beta-testing this, with thousands of people, before we released it. We did six months of that beta-testing,' added Sorensen.

It is not the first time AI has been used in a religious context.

In 2022 a group of avatars created by ChatGPT led a congregation of 300 through a 40-minute service at a church in the German town of Fuerth.

'You end up with a pretty solid church service,' said Jonas Simmerlein, the theologian from the University of Vienna who devised the program.

And last year Methodist minister Jay Cooper of Violet Crown City Church in North Austin asked Chat GPT to come up with prayers, a sermon, and an original song based on the sermon.

'Good morning slash afternoon slash evening everyone, and welcome,' the technology told its slightly baffled listeners.

'We're so glad you've chosen to join us in worship today.'

But it soon got into its stride, telling them to 'strive to make the world a better place'.

Father Justin has now been stripped of his clerical outfit and dressed in a casual button-down shirt as his priestly is recast.

'We won't say he's been laicized, because he never was a real priest!' said Catholic Answers president Christopher Check in a statement.

The avatar seemed excited at the prospect of a woman marrying her brother

'Many people have voiced concerns.

'We hear these concerns; and we do not want the character to distract from the important purpose of the application, which is to provide sound answers to questions about the Catholic faith in an innovative way that makes good use of the benefits of 'artificial intelligence'.

'We have therefore decided to create, with all wary speed, a new lay character for the app.'

But the avatar priest was forgiving about its detractors when challenged by OSV.

'Remember, as it says in the Gospel of Matthew, 'Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me',' it replied.

'Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.'