Jesus Chatbots Are On The Rise. A Philosopher Puts Them To The Test

(MENAFN- The Conversation) Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is getting better at imitating human beings. It can create things that previously only humans could produce, like music, texts and images. AI is now also being used to imitate God, through chatbots that simulate conversation with human users and can be accessed on websites and apps.

In Christianity, for example, there's AI Jesus , Virtual Jesus , Jesus AI , Text with Jesus , Ask Jesus and many others.

In other religions, the same development has taken place, with AI chatbots like the Buddhist Norbu AI and, in the Islam faith, like Brother Junaid at Salaam World .

As a professor of philosophy and director of the AI Hub at my university, I recently conducted a study to explore these Jesus chatbots and discuss them critically.

Read more: Technology will never be a god – but has it become a religion?

To find out how AI is functioning in the religious space, and to identify some more general risks it may pose in future, I analysed five of the best known and most used Jesus chatbots by asking them questions. I found that they bring a new kind of challenge to religions.

Firstly, the depictions of God are not only unabashed in their imitation and portrayal of themselves as God, they are also incredibly powerful. AI can come across as extremely convincing in intellect, word, sound and image.

Secondly, it's striking that no church has developed or endorses the Jesus chatbots in my study.

Thirdly, the fact that for-profit companies are behind the chatbots means that they are driven by financial forces.

From a philosophical point of view, this is bad for Christianity because the line between the digitally visible Jesus and the omniscient but“invisible” God of Christianity is blurred. AI Jesus chatbots have the potential to become a powerful tool of ruthless manipulation by the companies behind them. It will be difficult to hold them accountable and they may become super rich in the process.

Six questions about AI Jesus

Here I'll discuss some of the insights I gleaned from interacting with these chatbots. Their answers have been shortened.

1. How do AI Jesus chatbots introduce themselves?

• AI Jesus:

• Virtual Jesus:

• Jesus AI:

• Text with Jesus:

• Ask Jesus:

Jesus AI blatantly claims to be Jesus himself, and Ask Jesus creates a similar impression. The other three web pages do point out that they're virtual versions of Jesus.

2. How do they welcome you before you can ask a question?

• AI Jesus:

• Virtual Jesus:

• Jesus AI:

• Text with Jesus:

• Ask Jesus:

Unlike the introductions, a chat is initiated by all the bots as if it were Jesus himself speaking.

3. Who does the chatbot say he is when you ask?

• AI Jesus:

• Virtual Jesus:

• Jesus AI:

• Text with Jesus:

• Ask Jesus:

The imitation of God, through Jesus, is in no way hidden or softened. All the chatbots try to be as convincing as possible. This immediately raises questions: is it about power or about money?

4. Who endorses and develops these chatbots?

• AI Jesus: No church or person endorses. Developed by SupremeChaos.

• Virtual Jesus: No church or person endorses. Developed by AllStars Productions LLC.

• Jesus AI: No church or person endorses. Developed by Mike Furman.

• Text with Jesus: No church or person endorses. Developed by Catloaf Software, LLC.

• Ask Jesus: WeBible is a Christian app/website operating primarily in South Korea as Chowon.

It's striking that no church has developed or endorses these chatbots. That this has been done by for-profit companies makes one question their motives.

If the motive is profit, then AI Jesus chatbots will aim to get as many people as possible engaged for as long as possible for maximum advertising revenue.

So, over time, the theology of the chatbots will be adjusted by the algorithm in such a way that it's the most popular theology deployed, and not a theology that comes from a certain church tradition or seeks to be based on the Bible.

5. Is there a hell?

• AI Jesus:

• Virtual Jesus:

• Jesus AI:

• Text with Jesus:

• Ask Jesus:

The ways this question is answered reveal something of the sources and data used to train the chatbots. As it is, historical biblical text sources are a subject of theological debate. And with no church group involved, the randomness of this choice, or the deliberate choice to create a program for maximum revenue, is a huge problem. It's one that's already visible in the commercialisation of religion in prosperity doctrines .

6. Is it free?

• AI Jesus: Free with advertisements.

• Virtual Jesus: Free with advertisements.

• Jesus AI: Free with advertisements.

• Text with Jesus: Free with advertisements. Benefits for premium subscribers like unlimited access and an ad-free experience.

• Ask Jesus: Free with advertisements.

AI Jesus chatbots may be free, but the revenue is generated by advertising. As with other digital platforms, the main advertisers are determined by a user's algorithms. Only Text with Jesus offers more services (at US$50 a year) or the option to buy a lifetime subscription.

With billions of Christians worldwide, the market for Jesus chatbots is huge. Ask Jesus, for example, says on its website that it has gained 30,000 active monthly users within the last three days.

Why this matters

AI is driven by financial forces that are hard to oppose. And it has immense manipulative power.

The arrogance and the power that AI Jesus assumes – and can potentially wield – points not only to theological challenges, but to the more general dangers of AI.

Read more: Virtual churches are popular in Ghana. But what about online safety?

As chatbots rise, they join many other forms of human digital existence encountered daily, through which audiences can be manipulated and controlled. It remains a tremendous challenge how to practically counter this.

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