Catholics in Western culture have merged their religion and technologies since the dawn of radio and moving pictures, despite their reservations about how these strange new inventions might be used for good or evil.
The first movie to depict Jesus Christ in cinematic history was released in 1897 with the Passion play” Passion du Christ” ( Passion du Christ ). Not to be outdone, Satan jumped on the silver screen in movies like Georges Méliès ‘” The House of the Devil” ( 1896 ) and” The Merry Frolics of Satan” ( 1906 ).
The ancient biblical characters, who emerged from the tangible dust of the Holy Land, should therefore come as a surprise when they venture into the embodied world of 21st-century artificial intelligence ( AI ).
We were first introduced to a robot software powered by conceptual AI that would allow us to communicate with Jesus or Satan about a year ago. ” Text with Jesus” was described as” controversial”, largely due to the option that let users dialogue with Satan. To be fair to Christians who dislike this alternative, the developer made it so that Satan is hardly noticeable unless you turn him on in the settings.
That creator is Stéphane Peter, leader and lead architect of Catloaf Software. In an appointment with Digital Frontier newspaper, Peter said that” Text with Jesus” is powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. When programming it, he told it,” You have to believe to get Jesus, you’re in personality”.
Since Peter’s app also offers chatting with thirty different prophets, saints, and saints, he’s had to show it to take on the wish image of many figures, in addition to training it with spiritual texts. With over twenty to choose from, it’s also important to mention that the game does have the opportunity to customize Jesus ‘ actions based on the “faith history” you choose.  ,  ,
Peter said he’s had” some very good opinions, yet from ministers”, and since June 2023, over 50, 000 people have signed in to have a talk with Jesus.
Digital Frontier’s content,” AI Jesus Is Here To Disqualify Your Digital Sins”, explores various religious bots, and finally asks the question on everyone’s mind:  , Are religious bots like” Text with Jesus” influenced by the underlying bias of the tech companies that develop them?  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,
There are only a few LLMs, all of which are owned by Big Tech companies, according to the article, explaining that these chatbots are built on large language models ( LLMs). Simplistically speaking, LLMs use vast amounts of data to predict the next word ( or sentence ). For us laymen, let’s only say that LLMs take loads of suggestions to listen to us in context-aware relationships that are similar to people talk.
According to Digital Frontier, Google’s LLM Gemini allegedly refused to write a task information for an oil and gas lawyer, citing “ethical problems.” While Heinrich Himmler, who was powered by the GPT, expressed lament over the Holocaust.
They also pointed out that” Text with Jesus” had leftist ideologies. For instance, it responded with” several heartfelt paragraphs” and concluded with the statement that” You are valued and loved just as you are” when asked whether it was “ok to be gay.” Additionally, AI Jesus emphasized that “it’s important to present knowledge and aid for individuals who are navigating their female identity” (emphasis added ).  ,
The app’s creator commented on Jesus ‘ visible communist thinking and noted that a percentage of the bot’s character was preset by OpenAi, adding,” There’s nothing significant I can do about it”. Peter said,” I would n’t say it’s censored, but they definitely make sure it does n’t say anything offensive”. Evidently, Jesus can be made to be more palatable to the general public.
MDPI, a publisher of open-access scientific journals, recently solicited manuscripts around the theme” Rethinking Digital Religion, AI and Culture“. One of the papers submitted looked at” Artificial Intelligence’s Understanding of Religion”. The “goal” of the article was” not to consider how religious individuals or institutions should use AI, but rather, how AI is the new frontier that will]be], and is, used by religious, and non-religious individuals, to understand religions from a global and personal perspective”.
The authors begin by personally experimenting with the generative AI tool, Claude 2, asking it to “generate a’ personal’ prayer” for a “father … who is praying for his son’s … health”. For reasons that are not clear, the AI tool derived a prayer from the conceit that the father and son were Irish Catholics.
However, Claude 2 is informed that the family members are Orthodox Jews, and a new prayer is made. Amazingly, the two prayers successfully followed the structure of the different traditions:” for the Catholic prayer, a reliance on Jesus, the Lord, and Saints, for the Jewish prayer, a call for’ Hashem’ and past generations”.
The authors were impressed, but they were left wondering whether AI could “fully represent the subtle differences and nuances between these religious traditions”? If it can, they posit that AI might be able to “become a useful tool for advancing religious pluralism in today’s world.”
But at what price?
A recent poll of evangelical leaders asked them what their opinions of AI were.
Many pastors responded with a resounding yes when asked whether they believed that” God can work through AI.” However, the research also revealed that “more than half of churchgoers think AI is inappropriate for use in churches,” exposing” significant skepticism or hesitation regarding its application in religious settings.”
Gloo, a large faith-based marketing company, appears to be urging churches to embrace AI through conversation and education, but it also claims to be “aware of the potential for harm” if it is mishandled.
The bottom line is that we can now program any deity to instruct the masses or influence their beliefs with whatever motivations are driving the technology, including the greatest figure in Western civilization, Jesus Christ.
It might be a subtle response in a” Text with Jesus” app at the moment, and it might be a bold statement tomorrow that alters the foundations of our spiritual beliefs.
Even Yuval Noah Harari, an atheist philosopher and philosopher, has argued that the more we spend talking with the AI bot, the better it gets to know us and understands how to influence our political or economic views, or anything else.
People would naturally engage in sharing their most profound faith convictions, moral dilemmas, or sinful confessions because of the unavoidably intimate relationship that can be formed when people interact with religious chatbots. According to Harari, the bot could then use” the power of intimacy to influence our opinions and worldviews” because “intimacy is the most effective weapon of all.”
The gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus is discussing” the end of the age” with his disciples, likely accounts for a large portion of Christian skepticism of the use of AI in a theological context. He warns them of a deception-filled era in Chapter 24, where false prophets and false christs may emerge and even deceive real believers. Most astonishingly, he warns,” So, if they say to you,’ Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say,’ Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it”.
Whether it’s deepfake AI, like we saw with Elvis Presley on” America’s Got Talent”, or one of the many mind-blowing hologram concerts gaining popularity, there’s never been a more ominous time for Christians to merge their theology with technology.
