When lewd AI-generated images of Taylor Swift showed up on the internet earlier this year, it felt like a sign of the times, with the technocratic anarchy of AI’s generative potential being joined in unholy matrimony to pornography’s capacity for dehumanization.

Internet porn and artificial intelligence are poised to be the defining social and technological forces of our near future.

The Church, for her part, has been stalwart in its rejection of pornography — Pope Francis has referred to it as a “permanent attack on the dignity of men and women” and a “threat to public health” — but its teaching on AI has been more complicated and requires nuance. As AI seems poised to destroy and disrupt industries as diverse as writing, art, design and programming, Pope Francis has urged caution when examining its potential.

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In his annual Message for the World Day of Peace, the Pope wrote, “We cannot presume a priori that its development will make a beneficial contribution to the future of humanity and to peace among peoples.

“The impact of any artificial intelligence device — regardless of its underlying technology — depends not only on its technical design,” wrote the Pope, “but also on the aims and interests of its owners and developers, and on the situations in which it will be employed.”

A case in point is Chad BroBot, an AI porn addiction counselling aid made by Bosco Noronha, a former Tesla machine learning engineer.

In the AI’s own words, Noronha made the chat bot to be “a supportive listener, discussing triggers and exploring underlying emotions and thoughts.”

“I encourage healthy habits,” Chad BroBot said, responding to a query about its capabilities. “I offer strategies to cope with urges, and provide resources like books or communities for support. Remember, you’re not alone on this journey. Let’s find the best way forward for you.”

The Holy Rosary Cathedral parishioner told The B.C. Catholic that Chad BroBot isn’t designed to replace live therapists but rather to connect someone struggling with pornography addiction with the service, resources and advice that a councillor would offer.

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Chad’s aesthetics and personality were designed after the “Chad” meme popular in internet subculture. A Chad is often an aesthetically pleasing, fit and disciplined man who exemplifies a perhaps narrow, but attractive to some, view of what a “real man” looks like.

“He’s the internet’s idealized form of masculinity,” Noronha said. 

Chad isn’t perfect, but he provides a good base to build a personality for the AI.

“In my opinion, Christ is the epitome of masculinity,” said Noronha. “However, I wanted a character that could be appealing to non-Catholics/Christians to help them find Christ.”

In a sense, Noronha is trying to redefine the internet’s idea of the Chad meme into something that closely resembles Christ, “similar to Aslan in Narnia,” he said.

Noronha has worked in health care settings designing AI systems, and he built Chad from scratch. He trained — perhaps fed is a better metaphor — the AI on a combination of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques and resources, principles from the “NoFap” community (an online community where people struggling with masturbation can get support and advice) and St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

He hopes to partner with working therapists so they can use Chad to reach a larger number of people, with the AI identifying areas of concern for the therapist to talk to patients about or offering more efficient access to support resources.

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Communicating with the AI is easy, and after a brief introduction it will begin to ask questions designed to identify the best ways for the user to conquer their pornography use.

By early May, the AI had been used by over 1,300 men, and Noronha says the number is growing daily.