Sacred Art has long been known to be a tool for prayer, catechesis, and contemplation. John Paul II, in his Letter to Artists (April 4, 1999) said, “In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God. It must therefore translate into meaningful terms that which is in itself ineffable. Art has a unique capacity to take one or other facet of the message and translate it into colours, shapes and sounds which nourish the intuition of those who look or listen. It does so without emptying the message itself of its transcendent value and its aura of mystery.”

With the recent advanced in Artificial Intelligence, there has been an attempt to generate Sacred Art using AI instead of artists. The results have been…lacking. A larger discussion is needed about the appropriateness of such “art” and whether or not AI images actually classify as art. However, as we wait for that philosophical discussion to materialize, we have compiled, for your viewing pleasure (or horror) ten of the best worst AI “sacred art” pics we could find floating around the internet. We have also included an “honorable mention gallery” as well. Enjoy…if you can.

#10 The Five Levels of…huh?

At a very quick first glance, this seems to mimic one of those “Church Triumphant, Church Militant, Church Suffering” frescoes seen in Cathedrals and Renaissance Churches. Except another glance begins to betray that…this is controlled chaos. Why are there so many levels? What are they supposed to represent? Why is that one floating dude beaming a light ray at the…supernova? Who is that floating on a magic carpet? Are they all men? The longer you look at it, the weirder it gets.

#9 Rosary Ball-Pit Mary

This looks like bad AI meets bad photoshop. Reminiscent of those ball pits that used to be part of amusements and even fast food restaurants that had play-areas for kids, this odd nod to the rosary looks like Mary is half-buried in one!

#8 Backwards Mary

Obviously an attempt at depicting Our Lady, Star of the Sea, this strange result clearly has either Mary’s head or her clothes backwards. This was ranked #8 because the colors are well done, and the whole ocean vibe is there, but the backwardness is just too much and too weird.

#7 Claymation Nightmare

This odd artwork appears to depict a young woman in a group hug with Jesus and….the Father? Moses? We aren’t sure. There are some very large doves that may be alluding to the Holy Spirit so this may be an attempt at an AI version of a Holy Trinity group hug…underwater. With candles. And maybe a portal to another dimension. The claymation aspect was gutsy, if not ugly, so this ranks as #7.

#6 Holy Family Fail

At the very first, very fast glance, one may think, “aw, look, I know its AI, but the Holy family looks sweet.” Until you actually look and realize with increasing horror how bizarre Mary looks. It should be captioned, “Wait for iiiiiiiit” because as soon as you see her deformed third hand, and realize that you can’t tell if Joseph’s hand or Mary’s malformed other third hand is holding the baby, you can’t unsee them. Until you see her feet and wonder what in the world went wrong there, that is. Don’t bother counting Baby Jesus’ fingers. We stopped counting at 6, which matches the rank of this jarring work of AI “art.”

#5 Clone Wars

Now we are really getting into the next-level of best worst AI art. This gem leaves one with so many questions. So. Many. Questions. At least Jesus and His clones’ feet look OK.

#4 Who’s Who at the Christmas Creche

This masterpiece of AI art is clearly for the Christmas-lover. What is better than ONE Blessed Mother? THREE! Three also happens to be the number of arms that the Wise Man has, but hey, who is counting? Speaking of counting, don’t count one of the Mary’s hands…or look too closely to see that she has pair of tiny folded hands protruding from her chest- that just makes it super weird. Whatever you do, however, do not, I repeat, do NOT zoom in on the imposter baby Jesus, unless you know how to mind-scrub images from your brain. Instead, maybe focus on why there seems to be a votive candle on the ground, if those are crowns of thorns on the heads of Joseph and the wise man, where Joseph’s hand went, and whether or not the “shepherds” (who are obviously twins) are playing Rock-Paper-Scissors. Solid #4.

#3 Veteran Jesus

We are now in our top-3 Best Worst AI art pics, and they live up to the honor. Coming in solid in Third Place, Veteran Jesus takes the Bronze. It is actually unclear what is being depicted here. It is also unclear how old Jesus is supposed to be, with his decidedly gray beard and graying hair. The “angels” add another layer of complexity and strangeness, since they don’t actually have a form that makes sense. All in all, with the ambiguous historic soldiers, the amorphous angelic-imposters, and the muscular, graying Jesus with the disappearing red robe, this picture has earned its place in the top tier.

#2 On Eagle’s Wings

There really aren’t words that can describe the absolute magnificent disaster that is this piece of “art.” This second place masterpiece looks like AI went on an acid trip while listening to the one-time-popular hymn, “On Eagle’s Wings.” Complete with disembodied eagles, headless eagles, and Jesus-as-eagle made up of eagles, this one only narrowly missed being the #1 Best Worst.

DRUMROLL PLEASE! The First Place #1 Best Worst AI Art Picture is…….

There, you have it. The winner. Or is it the loser? Either way, the absolute best WORST AI “sacred” art picture floating around the internet that we could find, is this hideous catastrophe. Is it the dead eyes? The fact that Jesus has a twin? Or is He bilocating? Perhaps it’s that it appears that the imposter-Our lady is presiding over…. Mass? But are those beignets? And what are the other containers on the altar? Why is there a mini-chalice in the chalice? Why is it glowing? Why is Mary wearing a WWE champion’s belt? What is with the Hearts that bear no resemblance to anything actually sacred? Truly this tragedy that is floating around as “art” deserves every bit of first place…and we didn’t even mention the complete horror that are the “angels!” At least Mary has the right amount of fingers? Too bad we can’ say the same for one of the Jesuses…

And now for the Honorable Mention Gallery:

In trolling the internet for the best worst AI “sacred art” we came across a few that didn’t quite make the top-10 but still are worth mentioning. Take a scroll through them before the desire to wash your eyes out with soap hits hard.

 

 

 

 

And last, but certainly not least…

In conclusion

AI falls woefully short of creating actual art. Perhaps John Paul II explained it best when he said in his letter to artists, “God therefore called man into existence, committing to him the craftsman’s task. Through his “artistic creativity” man appears more than ever “in the image of God”, and he accomplishes this task above all in shaping the wondrous “material” of his own humanity and then exercising creative dominion over the universe which surrounds him. With loving regard, the divine Artist passes on to the human artist a spark of his own surpassing wisdom, calling him to share in his creative power. Obviously, this is a sharing which leaves intact the infinite distance between the Creator and the creature, as Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa made clear: “Creative art, which it is the soul’s good fortune to entertain, is not to be identified with that essential art which is God himself, but is only a communication of it and a share in it.”

AI art can never share in a creative spark with the Creator. It can only ever create a cheap facsimile. As funny as these completely awful attempts at “art” are, they tell a real truth: that real art must be created, must be human. It is man, in his capacity as being made in the image of God, who participates in the creative act which is a profoundly human exercise, and that is important, noticeable, and needed! After viewing all this fake art, we suggest spending some time gazing upon a Caravaggio, Michelangelo, or Bernini. Or take a scroll through some of the modern sacred artists out there – they can often be found on Instagram and in Catholic circles sharing their beautiful gift with the world.

Have you come across some truly awful Ai “art?” Tell us in the comments!