Talking to Jesus: How people are using artificial intelligence to “talk to God” and other spiritual entities online
Many people are now turning to chatbots in order to get closer to the divine.
In recent years (although it feels like months), artificial intelligence has ventured into every realm of out daily lives, and now it’s taken a step further: offering people new ways to engage with the divine creator himself. I remember when I used to turn to the Magic 8 ball for help. How times have changed.
Believe it or not, pun intended, AI-powered chatbots are now being dressed up as virtual entities from the lands of heaven, which are allowing people to have conversations with Jesus, Buddha, and even God himself.
One particularly hilarious/strange [delete as appropriate] example is the “Text With Jesus” app, which allows users to engage in conversations with an AI Jesus Christ. I’m not sure what Jesus makes of things when you ask him how to repair a serpentine belt on a 2016 Camaro, the 6.2 litre V8 one, with the supercharger.
AI Quran bot crashes the internet
Similarly, the “Chat With God” platform provides users with the opportunity to converse with an AI entity embodying a divine presence, offering spiritual insights and reflections. This platform lets you choose from 7 different religions, while also giving you the option of ‘agnostic’. While it’s free, there is an option to pay $499 USD per month for the service. Decide yourself how Christian that is.
As you might imagine, these AI-driven spiritual tools have garnered significant attention, with millions of users turning to them for everything from daily SMS Bible verses to outright loneliness. For instance, the “Bible Chat” app has reached over 30 million downloads, showing just how easy it is to get God on the phone.
Likewise, Scientific American reported that QuranGPT, a platform released by Raihan Khan, a 20-year-old Muslim student living in Kolkata, crashed on release because of unexpectedly high levels of traffic.
Peter’s chapel is Lucerne, Switzerland, has gone one step further, installing a virtual Jesus in their confessional booth. “It was really an experiment,” said Marco Schmid, a theologian with the Peterskapelle church, on the brilliantly named Deus in Machina.
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“We wanted to see and understand how people react to an AI Jesus. What would they talk with him about? Would there be interest in talking to him? We’re probably pioneers in this.” It turned out to be success, with The Guardian reporting that across a couple of months, “more than 1,000 people” took the chance to speak to AI JC. Plug him into one of Elon’s Optimus robots and we’ve got the second coming.
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