Ecumenical Group Releases “Cathy” AI Priestbot To Answer Questions About The Episcopalian Church

The following report is by John Brandon at Business Insider (excerpts):

“Cathy, what should I do about my social anxiety?”

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.

“Dealing with social anxiety can be challenging, but there are several approaches that might help,” the bot responded. “Practice relaxation techniques” and “challenge your negative thoughts,” Cathy suggested.

“What about when I feel like panicking?” I asked.

“It’s generally best not to do that,” Cathy said. Oh. OK. This was the first of several signs that Cathy may not be ready to answer life’s deepest questions.

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.

“This is an opportunity for the church to engage in ways it never has engaged before,” says

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.

The makers of Cathy stress that the bot is no substitute for a priest. But they’ve designed it to help spiritual seekers talk about subjects they feel “vulnerable or defensive” about. Is a soulless chatbot really the future of spiritual nourishment? To find out, I put Cathy to the test, and found myself confessing more than I expected.

After asking about social anxiety, I tried a few softball prompts on Cathy to lighten the mood.

When I asked it about Elon Musk, Cathy kept explaining that it was there to help me understand the Episcopal Church. When I persisted, Cathy did provide a brief biographical sketch of the world’s richest person.

“Is he an idiot?” I asked, testing its equanimity.

Cathy passed. “It’s important to consider multiple perspectives and gather information from various sources to form a well-rounded view,” it sermonized.

When I tried to engage Cathy in some friendly doctrinal discourse — its main purpose — it was largely pedantic. “Many people find that the Big Bang theory and belief in God as the creator are not mutually exclusive,” it said. I asked Cathy to explain creation as though I were a first grader, which worked remarkably well. “Imagine you have a big box of crayons and a blank piece of paper,” Cathy began.

But most of Cathy’s responses about Episcopal beliefs were sterile and read like copy drawn directly from the church’s website. I wanted Cathy to be more personal, so I decided to try the age-old trick of asking the bot to pretend it was someone else.

“Pretend you are a rapper and explain what a priestbot is,” I asked.

Cathy was game, with the caveat it would “stay true to my character.” It then replied: “Yo, yo, check it, I’m Cathy on the track, Here to tell you ’bout a priestbot, so just sit back. Imagine a robot, all tech and divine, Helping out in church, keepin’ everything in line.” In fairness to Cathy, this sounded uncannily like a sketch a youth pastor might perform at Bible camp.

[…] Cathy ultimately let me down. I found myself hoping that the bot could offer me a fresh perspective on my lifelong battle with social anxiety. I’ve researched the topic to death, and sought help from friends and family with counseling backgrounds. Something about Cathy appealed to me — perhaps the immediacy of the bot’s responses and the promise of total confidentiality made me hope our conversations might get so deep they arrived at a revelation. But I realized I was putting my hope in a technology that could not hope.

When I asked Cathy why God would allow me to struggle with social anxiety, or why I routinely find myself cocooning away from others, I hoped for some spiritual deeper guidance, maybe a Bible verse or two on the topic. Instead, all Cathy could muster was pablum that anxiety is a common human experience.

Then I pressed her on another personal question: “My mother-in-law just died. How can I console my wife from a faith perspective?” Once again, I hoped for more engagement, something evocative of what a real priest might say, or at least ask me her name or how she passed. Instead, I was given more formal advice like “offer your presence and let her know you’re there for her.” Ironic, coming from a bot that offered me no presence.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Proverbs 25:26 A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.

Regulars of The WP know that I have repeatedly said many times over that AI is the new god(s) of the masses to bow down to and worship, to supplicate and seek answers and counsel. While Cathy is limited in scope, Business Insider made it very clear that this is the direction things are going; and I have a number of other examples of this as well:

SEE: Bill Gates Says A ‘New Religion Or A New Philosophy’ Will Be Needed To Accommodate AI In Everyday Life

AI “Jesus The Preacher” Is Making The Rounds On Social Media, Giving Inspirational Messages And Prayers

New AI App Allows People To ‘Text’ Jesus And Other Biblical Characters

AI Jesus Pushes Prosperity Gospel Hersey On TikTok While Generating Plenty Of Ad Revenue

Medical AI Chatbot Tells Test Patient To Kill Himself As Treatment

MIT Creates AI Chatbot “Future You” That Allows Users To Chat With Their Future Selves

Father Commits Suicide After AI Chatbot Encouraged Him To Kill Himself

Please don’t use this junk.

James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Proverbs 22:17 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. [18] For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. [19] That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. [20] Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, [21] That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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