FILE PHOTO: Words reading "Artificial intelligence AI", miniature of robot and toy hand are pictured in this illustration taken December 14, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - A Polish priest has created a small chapel in the city of Poznan, which besides an altar, lectern, chairs and crucifix, offers an AI-powered programme allowing visitors to ask questions about Catholicism and faith.
Priest Radek Rakowski's parish initially planned to build a traditional church, before opting for a more modern chapel installed in the ground floor of a residential building, with large windows, a striking neon light, and a cozy coffee corner inside.
Parishioners who visit the chapel gain access via an app, also used to operate the lights and order a drink from the coffee machine. At the lectern, visitors push a button to put their questions to the AI guide.
"Artificial intelligence is phenomenal, because you can ask all these questions that you used to be ashamed to ask a priest or the Church and it uses the Holy Bible, the catechism, the documents of the Church, it will gather all this information and answer your question," said Rakowski.
It is also easier for AI to give a direct, objective answer because a priest may not remember all the information, he added.
"It [AI] doesn't have this emotional connection with what it preaches, it just wants to pass on pure knowledge... And that's amazing because we don't want to bend the facts to attract people or to deceive them," he said.
(Reporting by Anna Lubowicka, writing by Barbara Erling, editing by Alexandra Hudson)
