Can a Catholic AI trained on the Church’s documents help people encounter truth… or is conversation with a chatbot fundamentally disordered?
In this episode of The Faith & AI Project Podcast, Edmund Mitchell hosts a spirited (and surprisingly charitable) debate between Matthew Sanders (founder & CEO of Long Beard, the team behind Magisterium AI) and Dr. Marc Barnes (editor of New Polity).
The conversation started with a little bit of Catholic-internet drama: Marc published an essay titled “Delete Magisterium AI,” arguing that chatbot-style “conversation” is not a neutral interface—but a formative act that can subtly reshape how we relate to truth, authority, and even God. Matthew responded publicly with his own article, pushing back on the critique and defending Magisterium AI as a tool meant to point people back to sources, not replace teachers, pastors, or the Church’s living authority.
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