The world's first prayer led by artificial intelligence

Day after day, artificial intelligence is entering a new field in human life, and its last stop is prayer.

An artificial intelligence program “chatbot” asked worshipers at the packed “St. Paul's Church” in the Bavarian town of Wurt to get up from their pews and praise God.

Chatbot program

A chatbot, personified by an avatar of a black, bearded man on a huge screen above the altar, started the sermon in front of more than 300 people who attended Friday morning the experimental mass held in the Lutheran Church, which is based entirely on artificial intelligence.

With an expressionless face and a monotonous voice, the avatar said, "Dear friends, it is an honor for me to stand here and preach to you as the first AI program at this year's gathering of Protestants in Germany."

Chatbot and Jonas Semmerlin

The 40-minute mass—including sermon, prayer, and music—was organized by Chatbot and Jonas Semmerlin, a theologian and philosopher at the University of Vienna.

The 29-year-old researcher was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “I designed this mass—but I actually went with it, because I say about 98 percent of the action comes from the apparatus.”

The AI-powered service was one of hundreds of events at a Protestant conference in the nearby towns of Wauwurt, and it attracted such huge interest that people formed a long line outside the church for an hour before it started.

The event in Germany

The gathering takes place every two years in the summer at a different location in Germany and attracts tens of thousands of Christians to pray, sing and discuss matters of faith.

They also talk about current global affairs and seek solutions to major issues, which this year included global warming, the war in Ukraine, and artificial intelligence.

wipe out the human race

By 2030, artificial intelligence can take care of the elderly, make movies and teach lessons - or it can wipe out the human race.

These are completely different predictions from eight experts in artificial intelligence from the US and the UK, who project how technology could change our lives within the next decade.

It comes amid growing calls from regulators to freeze AI development, amid fears it could lead to waves of job losses.