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Apr 12, 2023

ChatGPT can write sermons. Religious leaders don’t know how to feel about it

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

I was asked as a child what I thought God looked like and I said he looks like Mr Spock because God is logical. This upset the Mormon elders in that small town in California. They’re different than the Mormons I’m going to church with now.


Pastors and rabbis have recently discovered that ChatGPT, an AI language learning model that can spit out passable prose with just a few prompts, is not that bad at creating sermons – a cornerstone of worship services across many religions.

Historically, these orations are based on generations of knowledge, keen textual analysis and scholarship, combined with the unique charisma and experiences of each worship leader. Sermon writing is considered an art. A divine calling, even.

Seeing a computer approximate similar works in mere seconds has led faith leaders to wrestle with an intriguing problem: Can AI replicate a truly human, spiritual message? And if it can, is the computer just that good, or does the human message need some work?

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