Why this score
How the formula works →- +2.7proHas published AI-made work
- +2.6proUses AI in their work
- +0.5pro1 pro-AI statement (measured)
- −0.5anti1 anti-AI statement (measured)
- ±0nuancedHolds a documented two-sided view
Weights, statement counts, and the formula’s smoothing are already baked in — the points add up to the score, with evidence on the other side subtracting (direction-free evidence pulls toward the middle instead): Firmly Pro-AI · 5.3/10
In his words
I conceived this service — but actually I rather accompanied it, because I would say about 98% comes from the machine.
Biography
Jonas Simmerlein is a theologian and philosopher at the University of Vienna who, in his late twenties, became the public face of AI-generated worship. In June 2023 he staged an experiment at Germany’s Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag (Protestant church congress) in Fürth.
A sermon from the machine
More than 300 people packed St. Paul’s Church for a roughly 40-minute service that was almost entirely generated by ChatGPT — the sermon, prayers, hymn choices, and even the AI avatars that delivered it from a screen above the altar. Simmerlein said he simply prompted the model to imagine what a church service at the congress would look like, and it produced what he called a solid liturgy.
He was refreshingly honest about the seams. Reactions were mixed — some worshippers found the experience moving, others said it lacked heart and soul — and Simmerlein agreed the technology has hard limits when it comes to genuine pastoral care.
The pastor is in the congregation, she lives with them, she buries the people, she knows them from the beginning. Artificial intelligence cannot do that.
Quote sources
- Associated Press, 2023(foxnews.com)
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/jonas-simmerlein
