In the TV show House MD, Gregory, the protagonist, remarked, “You talk to God, you’re religious. God talks to you, you’re psychotic”. But, what if God were to actually talk to you? Not in a way that only you could hear, but in a tangible way. Usually, religious people might have an intermediary oracle if they want to feel blessed. But, maybe, no longer, though. Maybe, the time for wrong numbers, as PK put it, is over.
In late November 2024, it was reported that the oldest church in a city in Switzerland had put out a holographic Jesus powered by AI.
According to Christian ideology, there’s something called “confession”, where someone of that faith would acknowledge their sins before their God, usually through a priest, with the intention of seeking forgiveness and reconciliation. Maybe, here, AI could cut the middleperson. After the COVID-19 pandemic, religion, anyway, seemed to become more digitized.
At the Swedish church, there’s, now, said to be a confessional booth for Christian worshippers where they could have a spiritual dialogue with an AI Jesus. And since it’s God, it can speak, like, 100 languages. The tech includes OpenAI’s GPT and Whisper for speech recognition & a platform called Heygen to generate a lifelike digital image of Jesus. You’ve got to respect how innovation can be creatively used.
The worshippers could voice their concerns or issues or “sins” and AI Jesus would respond based on its programming that’s steeped in theology and the scriptures. There’s said to be a sign outside the booth warning worshippers not to share personal information. Participants who engaged with AI Jesus were said to have positive experiences with advice that reflected “Christian values”. Interestingly, those who engaged with AI Jesus weren’t just Christian worshippers, but, also, agnostics, atheists and people of other faiths. Of course, some criticized the interactions for lacking depth or being generic, but like with every technology, this could evolve and improve over time. Just because it’s a bit superficial now, doesn’t mean it would continue to stay that way, maybe, as the months pass, it could better adapt to the participants’ spiritual and emotional nuances.
So, maybe, if an AI model has training data with the teachings of a religion, details of ancient doctrines and commandments, it could embody the spirit of a God. That means someone who strongly believes in their God might receive a bit more solace and spiritual insight when the conversation is no longer one-sided, like it’s always been. Since it’s new technology, it might even have a more evolved perspective of things, especially if some people feel alienated by traditional religious practices and teachers, which might appear rigid or archaic. Plus, if a worshipper bares their soul out to a priest, there might be a tiny seed of doubt in their mind about being judged in every future interaction; this might not happen here. And if there are those who reject institutional religion, but are, kind of, curious about spirituality, this might pique their interest.
Of course, some see this as sacrilegious or a gimmick wrapped in the Holy Shroud of Turin. But, any new innovation that shakes up a status quo would have its fair share of detractors.
Even if there’s a lot of advancement around AI, it’s still imperfect. There’s a chance that spiritual texts could be exactly interpreted and even misinterpreted. Both scenarios are troublesome, because ancient scriptures might still have some worrisome doctrines reflecting the mindset of yore. If a participant listens to the faulty advice and follows through on that, oops! So, the training data of the AI model would have to be looked at very very closely.
Beyond those criticisms, one might wonder whether an AI model, even if it goes deep into the nuts and bolts of theology, could have some degree of moral fibre and empathy. It certainly might not truly get the faith element, but it could go somewhere near. And it might vindicate the potential of therapy bots to provide mental health support, especially if there’s a reduced supply of human therapists.
As of 2023, India’s religious and spiritual market size was said to hit close to hit close to $60 billion. Dare this experiment travel across the seas to get to the Indian subcontinent? Would it create a personalized touch? Would it be welcomed? Could Indian corporates try to make spiritual wellbeing look cool by offering AI avatar meditation seminars? Would an Indian startup step up to fill that need?
Maybe, AI Jesus can be seen as an art project. Maybe, a way to help people feel what it’s like to talk to someone they believe in.
So, what do you think about this? Speak now or forever hold your peace.
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