With the rapid rise of AI and its positive potential, an ancient question resurfaces: “What is Truth?”

Every year, on Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion, Catholics around the world hear the same reading from the Gospel of John.

As Jesus stands before Pilate, Pilate asks him if he is a king. In reply, Jesus states that he has come “to testify to the truth,” to which Pilate responds with the famous question, “What is truth?” (John 18:37–38).

Human beings have wrestled with this question throughout the history of Christianity, in sermons and homilies, in theological discussions and disputations, and even in art, architecture, and music.

Pope Leo XIV and the virtual pope proposal

Most recently, Pope Leo XIV was faced with this question.

In an interview for a new biography by Elise Allen, Pope Leo discusses a startling proposal: that an AI avatar of him be created so that people could have private conversations with this “virtual pope.”

“This artificial intelligence pope would give them answers to their questions, and I said, ‘I’m not going to authorize that’… (In some ways, AI can be useful but) …there’s a danger because you do end up creating a fake world and then you wonder, what is the truth?”

Truth and distortion through the ages

Efforts to distort the truth for political, cultural, or religious reasons run through all human history.

For example, false medieval narratives about “evil Jews” continued to be circulated for centuries, even to this day, despite papal statements refuting them.

It just was not the truth.

AI and the challenge of misinformation

Over the past few years, rapid developments in artificial intelligence have raised new concerns about its potential to distort the truth.

Untrue narratives about political opponents, for example, spread quickly through social media, and even news agencies have been accused of spreading “fake news” based not on facts but on mistaken research or political bias.

Religion and AI imitation

Religions are also affected. For example, today there are several sites offering users the opportunity to interact with an “AI Jesus”; ads or subscriptions finance some.

None is sponsored or endorsed by any specific Christian church.

Deepfakes and digital deception

Already Pope Leo himself has been the subject of dozens of phoney “deepfake” AI videos, according to the Dicastery for Communication. These can and do spread like wildfire over social media and can seem very convincing.

It is not always easy to identify these videos as fakes, and AI manipulation will only become more sophisticated in the coming months and years.

The pope’s reflections on AI and truth

Pope Leo has expressed his own concerns about AI several times since his election. This recent opinion seems to summarize his thoughts so far:

“AI, especially Generative AI, has opened new horizons on many different levels…but also raises troubling questions on its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, on our distinctive ability to grasp and process reality.”

Faith, truth, and what makes us human

Openness to truth and dealing with reality are what make us human, and, more specifically, Christian.

Jesus Christ came to “testify to the truth.”

The man who serves as pope, the Vicar of Christ, must continue to guide that mission as much as humanly possible. This task cannot be taken up by any artificial holographic avatar, no matter how much data its AI can access.

• Joanne M. Pierce, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita Department of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA.