A tale of good versus evil played out on the large screen in the sanctuary of St. Paul’s Lutheran church in Finland. Jesus was shown in robes with long hair and a beard, while Satan was dressed in more modern clothes but with a menacing frown and higher-pitched voice — all created by artificial intelligence.
Now that’s blasphemy.
Church service without a single soul involved?
We have done this before all over the world with people with no soul.
I am not saying church isn’t far from God. I am saying that the whole concept of using AI for this is pretty offensive by itself.
Sure is. …and I’m an atheist …and finnish.
Then again church services here mean so little to general public, only few will give a shit. We do have our “fundie zones”, but they usually don’t belong in to that sect.
The clergy and worshippers said they enjoyed it, but agreed it wouldn’t replace services led by humans anytime soon.
“It was pretty entertaining and fun, but it didn’t feel like a Mass or a service. … It felt distant. I didn’t feel like they were talking to me,” Taru Nieminen told The Associated Press.
The Rev. Kari Kanala, the vicar at St. Paul’s, echoed her sentiment.
“The warmth of the people is what people need,” he said.
I mean, isn’t that basically how every AI project goes? “It’s a fun novelty, but actually expecting anything deeper from it always gives you a hollow experience”? Maybe we don’t need to try doing everything with AI, maybe we can just assume it’ll be the case and move on
This is actually false, which was surprising to me upon hearing this podcast episode: The TED AI Show: AI therapy is here. What does it mean for you?
Some people actually prefer AI counselors because they never judge, they’re infinitely patient, and they remember everything. There is a role for them. For me, while they’ve always messed up code, they’ve typically shown me a different way to attempt to do something that I didn’t think of before, which eventually led me to newfound tinkering that got me to develop working code needed for my projects.
For this case, I think it’s the framework of AI being inserted into an existing institution that is causing this emotional stigma. If it was started separately as its own AI pep talk program or motivational system for social outreach and equality, then maybe it would thrive. So I think it can’t replace church activities simply because of their innate history.
You won’t learn a fucking thing in a church.
That’s just wrong. I’ve learnt many things! Such as
- I don’t like it
- Regulars smell
- Everyone’s constantly guilt-tripped into giving money
- The harmonics of that fancy version of piano (it’s not called that, slipped my mind atm) are actually awesome
And many more!
fancy version of piano
The organ? Or did the church you visited have something else?
Yes! Thank you
I love me some organ music.
There’s a video game called Stellaris that uses it, and I find myself pausing the game, just to zone out to that ethereal sound.
I had to suffer through someone’s wedding that had an impressive but out of tune pipe organ. Shame because the musician seemed talented, and at least while it lasted I didn’t have to hear about how great the guy in the sky is.
