Important Takeaways:
- An acronym for Churchy Answers That Help You, Cathy is a new AI chatbot that answers faith-based questions from the perspective of a friendly, knowledgeable Episcopalian. Despite its feminine name, the “priestbot,” as Cathy sometimes calls itself, is genderless. There are no ornate flowing robes or croziers, either. But like a wise cleric, Cathy jumped right in with an answer.
- Developed and funded by the ecumenical group TryTank Research Institute, Cathy uses large language models from OpenAI’s ChatGPT and has ingested the Book of Common Prayer and the entire Episcopal Church website. “Cathy represents our innovative approach to leveraging technology in support of spiritual exploration,” says Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija, the founding director of TryTank and an Episcopal priest. Lebrija sees the bot as a virtual guide to the Episcopal Church for existing and potential congregants. Cathy is designed to “translate” the Bible into relatable language geared toward younger audiences. It can also serve as a tool for priests by helping them build sermon outlines, for example.
- Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, a priest at the Episcopal Diocese of Texas who was not involved in the making of the bot
- Cathy is far from the only faith-based bot — many denominations are experimenting with generative AI. There’s Text With Jesus, Buddhabot, Chatbot Eli, Gita GPT, and QuranGPT, to name a few. Artificial intelligence has been a boon for religious scholarship, especially in helping to accelerate translations of ancient texts. But using AI for ministerial work is far more treacherous. In April, the Catholic evangelization group Catholic Answers defrocked its clerical chatbot, Father Justin, after users noticed the digital priest was giving nonsensical answers, such as suggesting Gatorade could be used as a baptismal font. The chatbot was rereleased soon after as JustinBot, a lay theologian
- Is a soulless chatbot really the future of spiritual nourishment
- But most of Cathy’s responses about Episcopal beliefs were sterile and read like copy drawn directly from the church’s website
- While Telving agreed there are opportunities for generative AI be an effective purveyor of knowledge on spiritual matters tailored to the needs of an individual, bots should never replace humans helping in a time of need
- “One thing that makes simulated attention less valuable is that in a time of distress, you might need someone who can witness and understand your pain,” Telving says. “But since a chatbot is only simulating empathy — it does not have consciousness — it can never really witness anything.
- To nourish your soul, you need to be in the presence of other souls.
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