In a bid to keep up with the ever-evolving digital landscape, and propagate faith, a small Lutheran Protestant church situated in the South-Eastern state of Bavaria, Germany, in the city of Fürth, has embraced recent technology trends in a spooky phenomenon that’s sure to blow your mind! Sitting through a meticulously-arranged half-hour Sunday church service with virtually no human interaction other than with your fellows seated in the pews, you’d be pardoned for mistaking this congregation for some sort of extension of a Silicon Valley tech experiment.
The clergy at this sanctuary have extricated themselves from shepherding the flock and have preferred to delegate that responsibility to robots; which not only lead the congregation in what’s supposed to be praise and worship, but also write sermons and preach the same—special thanks to advanced machine learning. All that’s required is powering up the computer, punching in a few parameters and, in a flash, an avatar appears on the overhead screen to deliver the day’s sermon with the precision of a Swiss watch. There’s even the occasional roar of applause from the faithful, gathered, when the bot drives the point home excellently.
If you thought that’s intriguing enough, the St. Peter’s Chapel in Lucerne, Switzerland, would make what you’ve just read feel like the stuff of Sunday school playtime. They’re so advanced, they’ve got a bizarre creation called Deus in Machina (Jesus in a Machine)—basically, Jesus confined to a computer chip! When you waltz into the confession booth at the chapel, the character on the other side of the veil is not your regular priest, but, rather, an apparent hologram of the LORD—fondly known as AI-Jesus. He’s on standby to listen, answer all your questions and offer advice on pretty much any subject, based on what he’s been trained!
Whereas AI-Jesus is multilingual, which makes for fluid interactions, there’s a teeny-tiny problem: he’s got terms and conditions that you must agree to before indulging him! Once you enter the booth, he not only warns you NOT to disclose any personal information under any circumstance, but also tells you to use his service at your own risk!
The evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been so brisk that, in such a short period since its advent, nearly every sphere of life has been affected by the advancement in this semi-autonomous technology. The exponential rise of NVIDIA—the world’s largest maker of advanced computer chips—to the helm, having catapulted above Apple in valuation only a year ago, is a clear-cut testament to the AI boom. For the first time in the history of mankind, though, we’re now dealing with a creation of man that’s quickly becoming more intelligent than us and, thus, problematic.
There’s no denying that AI is fast, efficient, mostly costs less than a dinner date with your granny, and certainly makes the execution of tasks comparatively easier. However, what feels like juggling raw eggs is that temptation to hand AI control over every single human process; including matters to do with faith and spirituality! The gravity of choosing to align with either machine or Spirit when dealing Deity cannot be overstated.
AI generally gives the illusion of competence as it’s heavily reliant on available data for its training and, therefore, makes decisions based on patterns and trends. As such, if the dataset it has been fed with is flawed, it will most definitely return fake and inaccurate results. With no chance of divine inspiration, you can only imagine how many heretic preachings and flawed advice AI-Jesus churns out on a weekly basis!
In the aspect of reverence, worship music cannot be created extemporaneously—which’s literally what AI bots do. There’s a lot more to this artistry than speedily putting together a bunch of beautiful computer-generated words, melodies and sounds. Worship music that inspires the exaltation and adoration of a supernatural God, and causes the dissemination of His awesome Power, has got to have a Spirit that backs that lyrical content. No computer chip could possibly arrange that! It’ll create a make-feel-good poem, at best. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life.”—John 6:63
In principle, spiritually-inclined songwriting demands the input of every expression of one’s being: your soul (emotions, temperament), your heart (spirit, divinity), your mind (imagination), and your strength (physical effort). “Encourage each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the LORD.”—Ephesians 5:19.
There’s no cutting corners in this. But then, again, that’s pretty much the essence of sacrifice! The great psalmist from whom many worshipers and songwriters of our day, and those from millennia past, have drawn inspiration, said he wouldn’t offer to the LORD anything that hasn’t cost him.[2 Samuel 24:24]
So, I guess the ultimate question goes out to you who’s considering, or has already orchestrated a full-blown rollout of AI to the congregation of the saints. Unless you’re an agent of the devil, why would you have the output of a soulless piece of machine take God’s people through what’s essentially a mechanical, auraless, characterless, impotent praise and worship session that can literally be prepared faster than a meal of Chinese noodles? Wouldn’t you rather let them be guided by a Spirit-led team of humans to a special place at the Throne of God? And what shall happen when the AI bubble bursts? Cos as sure as night follows day, it must:
“These words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that, is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we’re receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”—Hebrews 12:27-29
After the shaking, will the worship ministry crumble too? Why are believers so eager to flirt with the idea of granting a machine autonomy over their interactions with the LORD? Technology is without a doubt beneficial to humanity on many levels, but does the Body of Christ really have any standards left to maintain? If yes, at what point does the Church draw the line and say “NO” to this invasion by AI?
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