Virtual Jesus? People of faith divided as AI enters religion

NEW YORK – Artificial intelligence (AI), the technology upending nearly every corner of society, is creeping into religion, serving up virtual Jesus and automated sermons – a change drawing mixed reviews from the faithful.

Religious chatbots and other faith-based digital tools are growing in number, offering counsel, comfort and spiritual guidance during an age of rapidly transforming socialisation and engagement.

One app, Text with Jesus, has thousands of paying subscribers. It lets people ostensibly ask questions of Mary, Joseph, Jesus and nearly all 12 apostles.

The idea is to educate, said Mr Stephane Peter, chief executive of app creator Catloaf Software.

“This is a new way to address religious issues in an interactive way,” he said.

Although the app makes clear it uses AI, virtual Moses and Jesus do not recognise that as such when asked the specific question.

Mr Peter said that ChatGPT’s latest version, GPT-5, on which Text With Jesus is based, follows instructions better than previous iterations. It is also better at staying in whatever character it is supposed to be and can deny more forcefully that it is a bot.

He said many people consider the app blasphemous, but it still has received a good rating in the App Store – 4.7 out of five.

Online ministry Catholic Answers said it got a taste of how sensitive all this can be when it launched the animated AI character Father Justin in 2024.

Mr Christopher Costello, the ministry’s director of information technology, said: “A lot of people were offended it was using a priest character.”

Days later, Catholic Answers stripped the avatar of its title to name it simply Justin.

“We don’t want to replace humans. We just want to help,” Mr Costello said.

No ‘heart and spirit’

Other major religions have similar apps, such as Deen Buddy for Islam, Vedas AI for Hinduism and AI Buddha. Most bill themselves as interfaces with scripture, not incarnations of actual holiness.

Ms Nica, who belongs to the Anglican Church, said she uses ChatGPT almost daily to study scripture – even though her pastor wants her to stop.

“I’d say it’s an added layer,” said the 28-year-old Filipina, who declined to give her last name.

“I am in a Christian community, and my husband and I have spiritual mentors. It’s just that sometimes I have random thoughts about the Bible and I want answers immediately.”

Not many acknowledge using AI assistants in matters of religion, even though some of these apps have been downloaded millions of times.

“People who want to believe in God maybe shouldn’t ask a chatbot. They should talk to people that believe, too,” Ms Emanuela said as she left St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

Rabbi Gilah Langner said the Halakhah – the collective body of religious laws derived from the Torah, the Jewish holy book – has many interpretations. Jews need other Jews, with their insights and perspective, to connect them to the tradition of their faith, she said.

“I don’t think you really get that from AI. It’s possible it would be very nuanced, but the emotional connection is missing,” she said.

AI can make people feel “isolated and not in an organic connection to a living tradition”, she added.

For their part, Christian communities do not reject AI outright.

Mr Peter said he had spoken to clergy members, and they agreed that AI could be a tool to educate people.

In 2024, Pope Francis named Mr Demis Hassabis, a co-founder of AI research lab Google DeepMind, to serve in the Vatican’s scientific academy.

As much of society experiments with AI, so does the clergy.

In November 2023, Pastor Jay Cooper of the Violet Crown City Church in Austin, Texas, had an AI assistant deliver an entire sermon. He warned parishioners in advance.

“Some people freaked out, said we are now an AI church,” he said. But, he added that, the service lured some people who did not usually attend church, especially those interested in video games.

Mr Cooper said he has considered other ways of integrating AI into his church, but has not repeated the AI sermon.

“I’m glad we did it,” he said, “but it missed the heart and spirit of what we usually do”. AFP