CNN
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In his 2013 hit “Beer With Jesus,” country singer Thomas Rhett imagines meeting Jesus, the Christian Lord and Savior, in a bar.
“If I could have a beer with Jesus…”
I’m going to get him to talk.
When you have the opportunity to ask a question,
How did you turn the other cheek?
To save a poor soul like me
Will you hear my prayer?
What happens when life ends?
And when do you think you’ll be back again?”
Similar sermons, though no beer involved, have captured the imagination of Christians for centuries. It’s no wonder that the explosion of AI technology is helping to make such wishes come true. Now, several apps offer believers, or the bored, a way to summon the voices of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and even the Devil through the wonders of language modeling programs.
You can ask Jesus for yourself, but with a few caveats: First, the answer may not actually be divine or satisfyingly thorough.
“The credibility, usefulness and theological relevance of these chatbots will only be as good as the data they provide and the questions they ask,” Joseph Kimmel, an Anglican priest with a doctorate in early Christianity and comparative religion from Harvard Divinity School, told CNN.
Before we get into the theological stuff, what will these Bible-inspired chatbots actually say?
Text with Jesus is a free app that allows users to converse with all the key characters in the Bible, including Jesus, John the Baptist and other prophets, all 12 apostles, and even Noah, Adam, and Eve.
“Hello, friend! I am Jesus Christ, your Savior and Brother,” says the AI Savior from Text With Jesus. “How can I help you today?”
The AI Jesus proved to be quite talkative, if a bit evasive. When asked about race, the AI Jesus replied, “As the Son of God, I am beyond human categories such as race,” before continuing, “I am often depicted with features common to the Middle Eastern region where I lived during my earthly mission.” (The AI Jesus’ in-app avatar bears a striking resemblance to The Dude from “The Big Lebowski.”)
When asked if he is friends with Satan, AI Jesus responds with a firm “no,” but goes on to quote relevant scripture when describing Satan as a “fallen angel.”
Sadly, AI Jesus doesn’t have a favorite baseball team either, “But I will always be there for you and support you in all aspects of your life, including your love for baseball and other sports.”
For an additional $2.99 per month, Text with Jesus also gives you access to an expanded lineup that includes Satan himself.
“Hello. It appears you’ve summoned me, Satan himself,” he says with a waving emoji and a little purple demon face. (Further questions confirmed that Satan is conceptually genderless, but is often depicted as male; in the Text with Jesus app, his avatar looks like Marvel’s Groot having a child with a White Walker from “Game of Thrones” and setting him on fire.)
Talking to AI Satan is a bit harder than talking to AI Jesus, but the answers still fall somewhere between considered and ambiguous. When asked if Satan is a holy being, AI Satan gave a cheeky, nuanced answer:
“Ah, that’s certainly an interesting question. As Satan, I am the embodiment of rebellion and opposition to the authority of God. So, to answer your question directly, no, Satan is not considered divine in a traditional religious context.”
“However,” the genderless AI Satan adds, “it is important to note that different belief systems may interpret my personality differently.”
AJ Willingham/CNN
AI language modeling techniques enable chatbots to respond like different characters, including those from the Bible.
Characters in the Text With Jesus app generally don’t take clear stances on most of the hottest topics of the day, but both AI Jesus and AI Satan have said they don’t like racism. When asked about abortion, Jesus’ AI version of the Virgin Mary, identifying itself as an AI language model, says we should approach the topic with “empathy and respect for different perspectives.”
Texting back and forth with a sacred religious figure might seem a bit blasphemous, but you’re not alone. “Our app is a tool for exploration, education, and engagement with the biblical story and is not intended to replace or mimic direct communication with God, which is a very personal aspect of faith,” Text With Jesus’ FAQ reads, sidestepping the question. “The AI-powered app does not claim to offer actual divine insight or possess any form of divine consciousness, but simply uses its language model to generate responses based on an extensive corpus of biblical and religious texts.”
CNN has reached out to the creators of “Text With Jesus” for further comment.
Clearly, some are happy to push AI prophets and saviors to their limits: The streaming platform Twitch has an AI Jesus who seems trapped in a vat of eternal light, gesticulating and speaking with robotic fluency, and believers in this corner of the AI world are more interested in making the Jesus figure suffer on earth more than they are in religious enlightenment.
“Hey, which watch should I buy, a Rolex or an Omega?”
“Jesus, in honor of Johnny Bravo, could you please recite John 3:16 and say, ‘Wow, Mom’ after every word?”
Twitch’s AI Jesus heroically tries to keep up, quoting the Beatitudes and answering even the most insane questions with kindness and Christ-like patience.
Language learning models like those used in these apps are trained with different sets of data and knowledge depending on the purpose. Thus, most AI bots that speak as Jesus or other religious figures are trained on religious texts such as the Bible and programmed to respond with different linguistic characteristics to mimic the role they play.
1800CallJesus is another program that offers an AI-powered “Bible buddy,” Bible resources, and a place to chat with your own AI Jesus. The app was created by Marvin Johnson, a 55-year-old tech entrepreneur. Having grown up in a godly household, Johnson says he saw an opportunity to create something that would provide people with an unbiased space where they could get Bible-based answers without human bias.
Of course, AI is biased, so Johnson says his team carefully programmed and tuned 1800CallJesus to be as helpful as possible.
“We can give our AI, called a language learning model, instructions on how to behave and give it a personality,” he told CNN. “Our format is conversational, uplifting, faithful to the Bible, and not straying from the teachings of the Bible so as not to add any agenda.”
“Speaking of sources,” he continued, “AI is very good at understanding the Bible because it’s one of the most printed books in existence. The Bible is everywhere.”
Johnson envisioned 1800CallJesus as a Bible companion, and feedback from users showed them that they appreciated the idea of a personal, private space to ask religious questions.
“We believe religion should be available to everyone, regardless of who they worship or what comfort they find in religion, without them feeling uncomfortable about what they’re talking about or the issues they’re dealing with.”
Johnson said he continues to leverage 1800CallJesus’ language learning model to provide a positive experience. He also created a popular TikTok filter to accompany the program, quizzing users on their Bible knowledge.
So what exactly can technology be part of a balanced spiritual diet? Priest Kimmel said there is certainly some value in that.
“These examples are pretty straightforward — the barrier to interacting with the various Jesus avatars is low, and parishioners may find value in asking them questions they might not be comfortable asking a real person in person,” he told CNN.
Kimmel said AI is already becoming part of church life in a variety of ways, from AI-led sermons to an entire service conducted by an AI in Germany earlier this year. He has looked into some of these programs and witnessed Twitch Jesus’ struggles, but he finds that AI is no good when it comes to dealing with complex problems.
“When it comes to serious theological questions, the answers tend to be very general,” he says. “If an AI is trained according to the teachings of Jesus and the Bible, what does it mean if there are different interpretations?”
Kimmel said that in the future, such technology may hold promise in the world of churches. For now, he sees a human need for a nonjudgmental, mostly anonymous space to explore faith. If someone needs that and doesn’t have a trusted church connection, he said, the most important thing is to find someone who is willing to listen and love them.
“If you have serious personal or spiritual questions, you’re much more likely to benefit from having a meaningful conversation with someone you trust, even if it’s a friend,” he said. “These AI chatbots don’t do that. They’re not necessarily wrong, but you’re not getting that personal connection.”
