"The canonization of Carlo Acutis by Pope Leo XIV on 7 September was a sign of how the Catholic Church is increasingly embracing the digital world. Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006 at the age of 15, was known for using the Internet to further his faith, maintaining a website documenting Eucharistic miracles recognized by the church. It earned him the moniker God's influencer."
"None of the chatbots he studied were developed or endorsed by any church, and it is not clear what religious texts they were trained on. Four of the five were created and managed by private companies with names such as Catloaf Software, a mobile-development company in Los Angeles, California whereas the fifth is run by a Christian group in South Korea with no official connection to any church. All are free but supported by advertisements, with one offering an ad-free premium subscription."
Carlo Acutis was canonized and became notable for using the Internet to document Eucharistic miracles and promote Catholic devotion, earning the nickname God's influencer. New technologies are entering religious practice, including AI chatbots and ritual-performing robots that take on roles traditionally held by humans. Generative AI chatbots offer interactions framed as conversations with religious figures such as Jesus Christ. A philosopher analysed five Jesus chatbots and found worrying trends: none were developed or endorsed by churches, training texts were unclear, most were run by private companies, and the services were ad-supported or monetized, raising concerns about authenticity and exploitation.
Read at www.nature.com
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