VIRTUAL JESUS? PEOPLE OF FAITH DIVIDED AS AI ENTERS RELIGION

Artificial intelligence, 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.

- THOMAS URBAIN JULIE JAMMOT

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

One app, which is called 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 Stephane Peter, CEO of Catloaf Software, which created the app.

"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 don’t recognise that as such when asked the specific question.

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's 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 5.