As AI hype sweeps the world, even churches have become caught up in the craze. Everyone from the generally upper-crust and progressive American Episcopal Church through to Evangelical megachurch pastors has been experimenting with the technology, according to a new report.

Catholics have been offered an app to which they can confess their sins, though this is entirely sacramentally invalid given that the Vatican insists a real human priest must be the channel for God’s forgiveness. Its promoters are keen to air their commitment to “thoroughly protecting privacy”, just in case worshippers are worried the confidences they tap into their phones might go straight to a troll farm in Novosibirsk. One app even claims it offers the opportunity to “Text With Jesus”.

Setting aside the obvious theological questions in seeing artificial intelligence as the voice of God, too heavy a reliance on bots could undermine the social function of churches just at a time when they’re most needed. We are living, after all, in an “epidemic of loneliness” and levels of relationship formation have fallen dramatically in recent decades, especially among young adults.

Indeed, if there is a “Quiet Revival” underway, it could be just the antidote for the spiralling rates of isolation. Churches such as Holy Trinity Brompton are so well known as places for meeting potential spouses that the London megachurch has long been nicknamed “Hunt The Bride”. Churches provide a ready-made circle of friends and opportunities to have deep and meaningful conversations, something especially important to young adults moving around as they complete their education and establish a career. You’re far less likely to meet your future spouse by using a chatbot.

Virtual communities are notorious for being limited to needle-thin ideological silos and being much better at posturing “clicktivism” than actually helping the most vulnerable. Churches, in contrast, tend to be places where people meet across boundaries of generation, occupation, and often even of political belief. They also provide billions’ worth of services to wider society every year, good both at filling in the cracks in the welfare state and providing companionship for the materially comfortable but lonely.

Some churches will nonetheless become tempted by the AI hype. They should heed the lessons learnt during the pandemic, when online services and “virtual church” were presented as a God-sent means of Christian revival instead of a regrettable necessity in extreme circumstances.

Yet, just a few years later, expensive equipment bought in 2020 often lies unused, and even churches still streaming services mostly engage only a few housebound or travelling members. AI may well prove a useful tool for churches in certain limited circumstances, but it is those who remember that their core business is people who will have the best chance of flourishing.

Even those sceptical of churches’ claims about God usually praise what they offer in terms of humanity — but nobody is interested in the church as a supplier of technology. And, ultimately, one can never be truly sure what lies behind a chatbot. After all, the Text With Jesus app also allows users to chat to Satan.