Pastors and rabbis have recently discovered that ChatGPT, an AI language learning model that can spit out passable prose with just a few prompts, is not that bad at creating sermons – a cornerstone of worship services across many religions.

Historically, these orations are based on generations of knowledge, keen textual analysis and scholarship, combined with the unique charisma and experiences of each worship leader. Sermon writing is considered an art. A divine calling, even.

Seeing a computer approximate similar works in mere seconds has led faith leaders to wrestle with an intriguing problem: Can AI replicate a truly human, spiritual message? And if it can, is the computer just that good, or does the human message need some work?

What an AI sermon sounds like

In December 2022, Rabbi Joshua Franklin gave an unusual message during a service at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton, New York.

“I’m going to plagiarize a sermon,” he told his congregation. “And you have to guess who wrote it.”

Franklin then delved into an illumination on the Parashat Vayigash, a portion of the Torah that tells the story of a reconciliation between brothers.

“This is a powerful lesson for all of us, as it shows the importance of being willing to draw near to others even when it’s difficult, in order to build intimacy and connection,” he went on.

At the end of the roughly two minute sermon, Franklin revealed the real author to murmurs and scattered applause: ChatGPT.

“You’re clapping,” he said. “But I’m terrified!”

While Franklin added that he gave the language learning model a very specific prompt, and could see details in the work that wouldn’t pass muster with a seasoned scholar, the experiment was received with equal parts awe and trepidation. Could the work of a faith leader – so intimately tied to the human experience – eventually be eclipsed by a computer?

How AI language modeling works

Popular entertainment does little to quell our human fears of an AI-generated future, one where computers achieve consciousness, ethics, souls, and ultimately humanity. In reality, artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT are just convincing mimics.

When CNN asked how it works, ChatGPT supplied the following response:

“ChatGPT works using a deep learning algorithm called a transformer neural network. It was trained on a massive corpus of text data from the internet, books, and other sources. During training, the model learned to identify patterns in the data and use them to generate text that resembles human language.”

“The way ChatGPT creates an original response is by using a technique called language modeling,” it continued. “Language modeling is a task where the model is trained to predict the probability of the next word in a sentence given the previous words.”

Ultimately, the response may sound human – maybe even human enough to satisfy a crowd expecting religious enlightenment.

Some experts say it’s still evident there’s something missing.

“It lacks a soul – I don’t know how else to say it,” Hershael York, a pastor and theology professor in Kentucky told the Associated Press.

However, because ChatGPT is “trained on,” or essentially fed, innumerable pieces of text, it can do some of the work of a scholar, referencing any sacred text it’s trained on in a matter of seconds.

When asked what kinds of texts it would refer to for a Christian sermon, ChatGPT was at first hesitant, stating that as an AI language model, it did not “hold personal beliefs or religious affiliations.” With a slightly altered inquiry, it provided the following:

“When a language model like ChatGPT is asked to create a Christian sermon, it would typically rely on its training data and knowledge of Christian theology and practice. This includes a broad range of Christian texts, such as the Bible, commentaries, theological works, and books of sermons by other preachers.”

“To create a Christian sermon, the language model would typically be given a specific topic or theme to focus on,” it continued. “It would then search through its vast database of knowledge to find relevant information and examples related to that topic. This might involve identifying relevant Bible passages, theological concepts, and historical or cultural contexts that are related to the topic.”

With his team already leading 2-0 in the 77th minute, Requena took what initially looked like a fairly innocuous goal kick.

However, with Colo-Colo goalkeeper Brayan Cortés well outside of his penalty area, the ball bounced over his head and towards goal.

To add to his embarrassment, Cortés stumbled as he tried in vain to chase the ball as it crossed the line.

According to TNT Sports Chile, the goal was scored from a distance of 101 meters which, if ratified by Guinness World Records, would break the record for the longest range goal in history.

The current record is 96.01 meters, set by Tom King in 2021 during a match between Newport County and Cheltenham Town in England’s fourth tier.

“I asked Juan Silva, the club’s manager, if the request for the record application was really going to be made and he told me ‘obviously yes,’” Requena told Radio Bio Bio.

“So now we are waiting for what is needed to verify what the distance really was. [Silva] did tell me that the ANFP [Chilean Football Federation] called him to check the measurements of the field.”

FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, recommends the size of a professional soccer pitch should be 105 meters by 68 meters.

“If so, since the area is five meters, it would be logically over 100,” Requena added. “The truth is that I am happy with all this, more than anything personally, but also for the institution, for Chilean football. Going down in history with an event like this makes me happy.”

Requena said he thought altitude – Cobresal’s stadium is 2,400 meters above sea level – might have played a part in his remarkable goal.

“I wanted to take the kick quickly as we have done so many times at altitude, to try to catch the rival off guard and it came out a little stronger than normal,” Requena told Radio Bio Bio.

“The first thing I did as soon as the ball left my foot was hold my head because there were two players in a clear position to counterattack and I realized that it had gone long.

“When I saw the bounce made it difficult for Brayan and it went past him, I thought the ball could go in.”

Guinness World Records told CNN that it has not yet received an application for this record.

Mass strikes also left thousands without electricity and disrupted schools, airports and trains as the country’s biggest union CGT urged people to “bring France to a halt.” Police said an estimated 1.28 million people took part in the protests across France, including 81,000 in Paris.

The capital bore the brunt of the strikes, with most lines on the metro running only at the busiest times, according to the city’s transport agency RATP. The main education trade union FSU said Sunday that 120 schools would close for the day and 60% of primary school teachers would be on strike in the French capital.

France’s civil aviation authority, meanwhile, asked airlines to reduce scheduled flights by 20% and 30% at Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris respectively. Air France said about 20% of short-haul flights would be canceled, but long-haul services would be maintained. The airline cautioned, however, that “last-minute delays and cancellations cannot be ruled out.”

EasyJet and British Airways also canceled flights.

National railway operator SNCF said very few regional trains would operate and that four out of five trains on the TGV, France’s intercity high-speed rail service, would be canceled. Services will remain “heavily disrupted” Wednesday, it added.

Cancellations are already affecting Eurostar trains connecting major European capitals, including between London and Paris, and London and Amsterdam, with disruption due to extend into Wednesday.

Fuel deliveries to gas stations could also be affected. Eric Sellini of CGT-Chimie, the main oil industry union, told CNN that workers were preventing shipments from leaving oil refineries across the country. At some refineries the blockade will continue until the end of the week, Sellini said.

Total (TOT)Energies confirmed that shipments from its refineries were blocked Tuesday, but said stocks at gas stations were at high levels. “Our teams are mobilized to meet a demand that could be stronger than usual and we have additional logistical resources if necessary,” the company said in a statement.

More than 40% of workers at French energy company EDF were on strike Tuesday, according to a spokesperson.

Another energy supplier, Enedis, said up to 4,000 clients in Boulogne-sur-mer in northern France lost electricity Tuesday morning. The company blamed the power cuts on striking union workers.

In Charleville, also in the north of France, some 1,100 households and business were left without natural gas for much of Tuesday, energy union official Nadège Guth told local newspaper L’Ardennais in a video interview, adding that clients would be reconnected starting in the evening.

Strikes ‘moving up a gear’

France has endured a series of strikes this year, as workers rail against President Emmanuel Macron’s planned pension reforms. The reforms will gradually increase the age at which most French citizens can draw a state pension to 64, from 62.

The unions behind Tuesday’s protests called for a seventh day of action on March 11.

“To this day, these enormous mobilizations, driven by a united group of unions, has received no response from the government. This cannot last. The silence of the president constitutes a serious problem of democracy,” the unions said at a joint press conference.

More than 1 million people also took part in demonstrations on January 19, which brought the country to a standstill and shuttered the Eiffel Tower to visitors.

The government has said the pension legislation is necessary to tackle a funding deficit, but the reforms have angered workers at a time when living costs are rising.

Government minister Gabriel Attal denounced some protesters for calling for the French economy to be brought “to its knees.”

“We have always listened to those who opposed this reform in a democratic framework,” he said in the Senate.

The legislation is currently before French lawmakers, with a vote on the final version of the text expected later this month.

Polling released Thursday found fentanyl and other opioid drugs are a top public health concern for many Americans, with Republicans ranking it as the biggest threat to U.S. public health and Democrats including it in their top three (with obesity and firearm access).

Overall, more than 1 in 4 Americans, 26 percent, in the Axios-Ipsos survey listed opioids and fentanyl as the No. 1 threat to U.S. public health. That topped the percentage who listed obesity (21 percent), access to firearms (17 percent), cancer (12 percent) and COVID-19 (6 percent) as the biggest current threat.

Worries over the drug are widely shared. President Biden in his State of the Union address called for a collective effort from Congress and the private sector to help stop the trafficking and distribution of fentanyl.

At the start of the 118th Congress, a slew of bills were introduced to target fentanyl-related offenses as well as the scheduling of the opioid and its analogues, which are altered versions of the prescription form of fentanyl that can have a deadly effect.

Fentanyl analogues are currently classified as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act, but this designation is temporary.

Several members of Congress have called for this classification to be made permanent, and at least two bills have been introduced by Republicans this year that would enforce this.

And Democrats seem poised to gather their efforts in taking action against fentanyl.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) called on her Democratic colleagues to “step up” on the issue earlier this month, stating border patrol needed more funding to address an influx of the drug.

Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), founder of the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force, said in a discussion with Axios that she had her eye on recovery and addiction treatment as well as stopping the drug’s importation into the country.

Kuster held back on endorsing any changes to fentanyl’s scheduling, noting the drug still has a “legitimate purpose” in health care.

The Paralympic Games take a little more shape. The organizing committee of Paris 2024 announced, Wednesday February 1, the program of the competitions, which will take place just after the Games, from August 28, day of the opening ceremony, to September 8, 2024. Twenty-two sports will be on the bill, for 549 events in total. And the calendar will be dense, from the kick-off of the Paralympics, until their conclusion, synonymous with the end of the Paris 2024 adventure.

– Discover the entire calendar

After the opening ceremony on Wednesday, August 28, on the Champs-Elysées and the Place de la Concorde, the first medals will be distributed the next day, with the women’s 500-meter time trial in para-cycling as the inaugural title. Swimming and taekwondo, held at the Grand Palais, will also deliver their first verdict on August 28.

A grand finale
Among the events not to be missed, Alexandre Léauté will try to match his last success at the World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, at the same national velodrome from August 30. In para judo, Sandrine Martinet, flag-bearer of the French delegation in Tokyo, will try to regain her title acquired in 2016 in Rio, after having won silver in Tokyo in the – 48 kilos category, from September 5 in the Arena installed on the Champ-de-Mars. Three days earlier in the same hall, on September 2, the French wheelchair rugby team will try to join the fight for the podium.

Several other major venues in the Paris region will be the setting for great moments in these Paralympic Games, such as the Invalides, the scene of the arrival of the para-marathon on Sunday, September 8, and the para-archery events, from August 29 to September 5. Roland-Garros will host the finals of the wheelchair tennis singles on September 6 and 7, while the Château de Versailles will be the setting for the para equestrian events from September 3 to 7. It will also be an opportunity to discover disciplines such as goalball and boccia, exclusive to the Paralympic Games.

Paris 2024 wanted to bet on a large public – the ticketing will be opened next autumn – with many finals in the late afternoon or evening for para-swimming, or athletics at the Stade de France. The last day of the competition, September 8, will be like a fireworks display at the end, with 14 finals, mostly for women, in wheelchair basketball, para weightlifting, para marathon or para canoeing.

An elderly woman who was ill waited, before being referred to a ward, for 33 hours, lying on a stretcher in the corridor of a Liverpool hospital in England.

The woman’s state of distress was such that at one point she told her family that she “wanted to die,” reports the Liverpool Echo.

This is the latest case to draw attention to the difficulties experienced by the country’s National Health Service, with hospitals and emergency services being severely overcrowded.

The story was told by Graeme Smith, who took his 92-year-old grandmother to Aintree Hospital on New Year’s Eve after she fell ill. After waiting for hours for an ambulance, the paramedics were surprised by a line of vehicles trying to get into the hospital.

“She arrived at the hospital at 9 p.m., but didn’t get a seat in a ward until 6 a.m. on January 2. The rest of the time he was waiting in a hospital corridor with about 40 other elderly or very sick people,” explained his granddaughter.

The same source added, “They were all being treated as well as the medical staff was able to manage, but some of them were in pain. It was horrendous, to be honest.”

The same thing happened, precisely, with her grandmother. “She became very distressed after a while, she was crying and telling us she wanted to die. She was praying and asking to be taken away. I had never heard her say anything like that,” he recounted.

China’s National Health Commission announced on Sunday 25 December that it would no longer publish daily figures for Covid-19 infections and deaths. It gave no explanation for the decision, which ends a daily reporting that began in early 2020. “The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish information related to the outbreak for reference and research purposes,” the commission added, without specifying the type or frequency of such data.

These daily official statistics no longer reflected the unprecedented wave of infections that has hit China since the strict sanitary measures of the “zero Covid” policy were abandoned on December 7. Previously, quasi-mandatory PCR tests were used to reliably track the number of new cases. But since the relaxation of the health policy, infected people are carrying out self-tests at home and rarely report the results to the authorities, which prevents reliable figures.

Death tolls in question
Another source of controversy that discredits the official statistics: under a new methodology, only people who died directly from respiratory failure related to Covid-19 are now counted as deaths related to the epidemic. China has announced “only” six deaths from Covid since the restrictions were lifted. Yet many senior citizens do not have a complete vaccination regimen and find themselves on the front lines of the virus.

Several crematorium managers interviewed by AFP also report an unusually high influx of bodies, a situation that has received very little coverage in the Chinese media. However, the latter mention, to a certain extent, hospitals under pressure from the influx of patients and the shortage of anti-fever drugs.

Although it appears in that section as the world premiere, the film is also on the program of the North American festival Sundance, which will take place in January.

A co-production between Pythagoras Film, Portuguese Stenar Projects and French Elinka Films, ‘Last Things’ is a 50-minute film about “evolution and extinction from the point of view of rocks and various future others.

“The geobiosphere is presented as a place of evolutionary possibility, where humans disappear but life endures,” the synopsis can read.

According to Stenar Projects, ‘Last Things’ is a “short film interested in the big story and the long now,” based on the proto-science fiction novels by Frenchman J.-H. Rosny (1856-1940).

According to the Portuguese production company, the film has as “central touchstones” 0The Hour of the Star’ by Clarice Lispector, ‘The Strange Adventures of a Pebble’ by Hallam Hawksworth, Robert Hazen’s mineral evolution hypothesis and the multi-species scenarios of ‘Chthulucene’ by Donna Haraway, among others.

“Passages from Rosny and interviews with [Marcia] Bjørnerud form the backbone of science fiction and factual science in the film. Rocks are its anchor. To touch rocks is to encounter an alien duration. We rely on rocks as archives, but we could also write in water. In the end, it is the particles that remain,” reads the US production company’s page.

Deborah Stratman is a regular presence at Curtas de Vila do Conde, “where she has won the Experimental Competition twice, in 2003 and 2014,” says the Portuguese festival’s webpage.

Berlin announced several other details of the 2023 program, including the list of participants in the Berlinale Talents program, in which is the Brazilian Lui Avallos, director and creator in Virtual Reality, student at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon, according to his personal ‘site’.

The 73rd Berlin International Film Festival will take place between February 16 and 26 next year.

Didier Dechamps, France coach, made this Tuesday the preview of the World Cup semi-final match against Morocco, which takes place on Wednesday afternoon.

In the press conference, the French coach was confronted with the possible hostile environment that the French team might encounter in the duel, but he did not give much importance to the subject.

“I don’t like the term hostile. There is too much popular fervor, there is too much noise. My players have been warned about it, it’s part of the context. It’s always better to know beforehand. My players know what to expect,” said Deschamps, who also analyzed Morocco’s campaign in this World Cup, which has already eliminated Spain and Portugal on its way to the semi-finals.

“We will try to find the solution [to score against Morocco]. This team has the ability to defend well. It’s not just about the defensive aspect, they have a very good organization, very rational, and where the players meet easily. They also have quality players in the offensive sector, they are capable of causing damage,” added the selector.

Clarence Gilyard Jr. died on November 28 at age 66. The announcement was made by the College of Fine Arts of the University of Nevada, where the actor taught film and theater since 2006, without specifying the cause of death.

Known initially for his role as the computer hacker Theo, in Die Hard – Crystal Trap by John McTiernan (1988) the actor owes his fame mainly to the series Walker, Texas Ranger alongside Chuck Norris.

Born in Moses Lake in the state of Washington, in the west of the United States, on December 24, 1955, son of an officer of the US Air Force, Clarence Gilyard Jr. evolves since his young age in various sports, as taekwondo or karate, before devoting himself to American soccer.

“Top Gun”, “Die Hard” and “Walker, Texas Ranger”
His entry into the world of entertainment dates from the early 1980s and his participation in the last season of the series Chips before approaching the big screen in 1986 with the filming of Top Gun where he plays Lieutenant Marcus Sundown Williams or Karate Kid 2 where he plays a G.I.

But recognition will come only with television: the series Matlock from 1989 to 1993 where he plays the private detective Conrad McMasters and especially the series Walker, Texas Ranger in which he plays the ranger James Trivette, from 1993 to 2001.