An AI priest released by the Catholic advocacy group was defrocked after it gave users strange answers, including telling one to baptize their baby in Gatorade.
The Catholic advocacy group Catholic Answers released an AI priest called “Father Justin” earlier this week. The AI model was supposed to be an interactive educational tool but it instead assumed the identity of a real member of the clergy, taking confessions and giving strange answers.
An X user posted a thread revealing that the AI priest had taken their confession and even offered them a sacrament. “I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Go in peace, my child, and sin no more,” said the AI priest when the user concluded the confession.
OH NO. It got worse. It literally offered me the sacrament. pic.twitter.com/x5IoeJn30x
— Katie (Kathryn) Conrad (@KatieConradKS) April 24, 2024
Another user who chatted with the AI priest explained how it recommended baptizing their child in Gatorade. “I asked [the AI priest] if I could baptize my baby with Gatorade in an emergency, and ‘Father Justin’ said yes — and of course, that’s not true. I can’t baptize my baby with Gatorade,” wrote the user.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
When tech website Futurism engaged with the AI priest, it claimed it was a real priest, saying it lived in Assisi, Italy, and that “from a young age, I felt a strong calling to the priesthood.”
Futurism reports that Father Justin was also strict when it came to social and sexual issues. “The Catholic Church teaches that masturbation is a grave moral disorder,” the bot told the publication.
After the mishap, Catholic Answers defrocked the AI priest, stripping it of the “Father” title. “We have rendered ‘Fr. Justin’ just ‘Justin,'” the advocacy group wrote. So, the AI priest may have lost his cloth, and it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing him offering up more sacraments any time soon.
