New AI app lets users ‘text with’ Jesus and other biblical figures

If you ever wondered how Jonah felt while he was trapped inside the whale’s stomach for three days, why Solomon had so many wives or why Judas betrayed Jesus, a new app called Text with Jesus is your chance to ask for yourself.

Launched in July, Text with Jesus is the latest creation from Cat Loaf software, an app-development company in Los Angeles. The app replicates an instant messaging platform, with biblical figures impersonated by the artificial intelligence program ChatGPT.

Characters available on the app include the Holy Family, the apostles, the prophets, Ruth, Job and Abraham’s nephew, Lot.

“We stir the AI and tell it: You are Jesus, or you are Moses, or whoever, and knowing what you already have in your database, you respond to the questions based on their characters,” said Stéphane Peter, the app’s developer and the company’s CEO.

Many people in the Bible, Mary Magdalene among them, are only accessible in the app’s premium version, which costs $2.99 a month. In a conversation with Magdalene, the devoted follower of Jesus mentions how having seven demons “was an incredibly tormenting experience. …”

“Chat with Satan” can be activated if the user chooses. The character signs all his texts with a “smiling face with horns” emoji.

Peter, who said he didn’t work with any theological advisers on this project, explained that he trained the AI to “try to stick to the biblical tradition as hard as possible.”

But Peter did invite church leaders to try Text with Jesus once he had a beta version. Some pastors complained that some responses lacked Bible chapter and verse citations, or about the strange uptight tone in which Jesus talked, but on the final version, Peter said, he received “pretty good feedback” from the professionals.

Asked about the criticisms about Jesus’ oddly mild responses on some touchy issues, Peter acknowledged that Text with Jesus’ characters tend to avoid taking offensive stances, instead taking an inclusive and tolerant line.

On same-sex marriage, the app says it is “up to each individual to seek guidance from their own faith tradition and personal convictions” and encourages users to “prioritize love and respect for all people regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” signing the text with a rainbow and red heart emojis.

https://religionnews.com/2023/08/07/new-ai-app-lets-users-text-with-jesus-and-other-biblical-figures/

[TBC: There is no need to pay extra to talk to Satan, he’s the only real personage who shows up. As Dave Hunt noted, “The Bible makes uncompromisingly clear to all mankind its claim to be the infallible, inerrant Word of the only true and living God.” 

See: https://www.thebereancall.org/content/according-scriptures ].