Hundreds of people attended a Lutheran church service provided by ChatGPT in Germany to see if artificial intelligence can deliver a good sermon. According to the Associated Press, a “bearded black man” personifying the A/ chatbot lured around 300 people to St. Paul’s church in Fuerth, Bavaria, for the trial service on Friday.
“Dear friends, it is an honor for me to stand here and preach to you as the first artificial intelligence at this year’s convention of Protestants in Germany,” the ChatGPT personification said.
Although almost exclusively delivered using ChatGPT, Jonas Simmerlein, a 29-year-old theologian and philosopher from Austria’s University of Vienna, planned the 40-minute-long Al Church service, which featured the sermon, prayers, and music.
“Actually I rather accompanied it, because I would say about 98% comes from the machine,” the scholar told AP.
ChatGPT: Exploring the Intersection of AI and Religious Worship
The event was part of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag, or German Protestant Church Congress, which is held every two years in a different location in Germany, attracting tens of thousands of attendees across hundreds of programs to discuss faith, current events, sing, and pray. This year’s Protestant convention is being held in the Bavarian cities of Nuremberg and Fuerth, where the 19th-century neo-gothic church is teeming with a parish enthralled by the prospect of ChatGPT leading a service under the theme “Now is the time.”
On the screen, four separate avatars, two men and as many women, took turns conducting the Al-generated church service. With nearly constant concentration, curious churchgoers listened to the sermon about moving on from the past, focusing on the present, and having faith in Jesus Christ, with many even speaking along during The Lord’s Prayers. Some people had high hopes for a ChatGPT church session but were let down by the lifeless, repetitive, and fast-speaking digital pastor.