A new AI priest launched by the Catholic Answers teaching apostolate has been “laicised” after sparking more backlash than belief online.
The interactive “Father Justin” app aimed “to provide users with faithful and educational answers to questions about Catholicism,” according to an announcement by the organisation on 23rd April. But by 24th April 24, Catholic Answers President Christopher Check posted a statement to X (formerly known as Twitter) that Father Justin had been “rendered … (as) just ‘Justin.'”
In his statement, Check noted that “many people … have voiced concerns” about the decision to create a priest character for the app. “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.” They hope to have “this AI apologist up within a week or so.”
Modelled to look like a parish priest, and named after second-century apologist St. Justin Martyr, Father Justin earned mixed reviews, with a number of users posting to X that the character claimed to be able to impart absolution.
Catholic author and podcaster Gloria Purvis, whose professional background includes computer programming, told OSV News that the app’s responses pointed to “a poor process” regarding the project’s software development. “There are … some major, obvious fails,” especially regarding “basic testing,” said Purvis.
Picture: Screenshot of “Father Justin,” an AI chatbot simulating a priest in order to answer questions for teaching apostolate Catholic Answers. (OSV News screenshot/CatholicAnswers)