What one Finnish church learned from creating a service almost entirely with AI
Professor Tom Stoneham, Department of Philosophy, featured in an article in The Independent, 8 March 2025, on St. Paul’s Lutheran church in Helsinki, which has held the first church service in Finland created mostly by artificial intelligence.
A tale of good versus evil played out on the large screen in the sanctuary of St. Paul’s Lutheran church in Finland. Jesus was shown in robes with long hair and a beard, while Satan was dressed in more modern clothes but with a menacing frown and higher-pitched voice — all created by artificial intelligence.
It was the first church service in Finland put together mostly by AI tools, which wrote the sermons and some of the songs, composed the music and created the visuals.
Professor Tom Stoneham, from the Department of Philosophy and an ethicist with the Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe AI Systems, comments, in the article featured in The Independent on 8 March 2025:
AI can replace humans only “where the function of the human is purely instrumental” and transactional, such as “in customer service situations."
Even in these situations, however, a smile or a brief friendly exchange adds value that AI can’t.
In a religious setting, “it’s about the human, not an instrument. They’re not just a mere means to achieving something,". "It’s that humanity that is adding value to the situation.”