Artificial Intelligence and the Virgin Mary – The Swiss Catholic Portal

You may have heard of artificial intelligence, particularly the possibilities offered by increasingly sophisticated machines that promise to answer, perhaps in polished language, all (or almost) questions you ask yourself.

Admittedly, the result is impressive: on most subjects you receive an explanation, sometimes in elegant language. Cell-ci is immédiate and his contenu est, in certains cas, extrêmement bien informé et quand il ne l’est pas, il n’est pas difficile d’imaginer les progrès qui proront être accomplis dans ce domaine d’ici such as mois ou a few years.

One can quickly shame users of this type of tool who want pre-made, immediate, and solid answers. Indeed, the work of thinking about artificial intelligence (without immediately adopting an attitude of resentment towards them, but nevertheless full of vigilance) began and will continue in the years to come.

However, before throwing a stone at consumers of ready-to-use knowledge, it is perhaps appropriate to ask ourselves about our own church practices and methods of teaching the contents of the faith. Don’t we sometimes imitate AI (before the letter) by claiming to provide curated, universal answers on all or nearly all topics?

Of course, there are truths of faith that do not change and whose confession cannot be debated when one is a Christian. Of course, there are actions that are so contradictory to the wisdom of God shown in His creation that one must say that they are not good under any circumstances and in any form. There would be a real danger in denying these elements, especially in an environment where many suffer from a lack of solid foundations in their lives and faith. But there is also a great danger in claiming that you have an answer connected to all man’s questions about God and man about the conduct of his life. But it must be recognized, we as Christians can fall into this trap that gives us a personal sense of power and sometimes also a pretentious claim to control over the lives of others.

“A Christian is one who should be able to say ‘I don’t understand yet’”

However, here below, a Christian should never forget that he is walking with humanity. The Book of Revelation does not ride him in an easy chair. Hunger and thirst are emptied into it, sometimes in a vehement manner. A Christian is one who must be willing to die for the creed he professes and to translate the imitation of Christ into his actions. But, at the same time, he is the one who should be able to say “I don’t understand yet,” “I don’t have, at the moment, an answer for you.”

This month of May, the model can make us think: the model of the Virgin Mary. There are two verses that characterize Mary well in the Bible. There is her famous “command” where she affirms: “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord” (Luke 1:38). But something else, less quotable, speaks to us of her and Joseph in their relationship with the adolescent Jesus: “They did not understand what he was telling them” (Luke 2:50).

For every believer, even for Mary full of graces, the life of faith is a walk. It is not a set of ready-made answers. It is not a collection of complex ideas that only a superior intelligence could unravel because of the number of documents it could have accommodated.

A life of faith is discovered in our human stories, made up of hard times and ordinary times, moments of joy and moments of doubt. This, even the most complex AI will not be able to achieve. So let us be proud of our faith embracing our status of limited know-it-all men and women, immediately and immediately. Without indulging in mediocrity, let us remember that this is how our degrees bear fruit.

Jacques Benoit Raucher

May 24, 2023