Bishop Paul Hendricks, lead bishop for artificial intelligence for the Catholic Church in England and Wales, said it was dangerous to use Godbots for “personal advice, or as a personal guru or therapy because then you’re coming really close to relating to the chatbot as a human being, and believing that the chatbot has religious authority”.
Trupti Patel, president of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said that the organisation was “extremely concerned” about some AI-generated posts which portray Hinduism’s beliefs in “an extremely negative manner”.
Sabah Ahmedi, an imam and member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, said that AI can be used as a “valuable tool” for learning more about faith. However, he added: “You cannot replace physical, communal prayer with an AI tool, that is an act that must be lived and experienced in person.
“More importantly, a machine can never replace the personal contact of a faith leader. When times are tough and people need a shoulder to lean on or a safe space to offload; they aren’t looking for a calculated algorithm. They are looking for humanity.”
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, convenor of the Rabbinic Court of Great Britain, said that users could easily be manipulated if a bot were made by a “rogue provider”, and that bots would not be able to respond to users’ emotional needs in a way that a minister would do.
“While personal faith is a central part of all religions … anything that detracts from people coming to place of worship and linking up with others, such as online access acting as a substitute, is not healthy for those individuals,” he said.
Academics have begun investigating the rising trend of Godbots and interviewed 28 faith leaders from across various religions in the UK. They found that while many were open to the practical benefits of AI at an educational level – for example, sharing ancient texts and scriptures – they were also concerned about them straying into spiritual territory.
Leave a comment