On one hand, AI has the ability to drive great efficiency in the realm of business and even art. On the other, AI is being used for the creation of art with incredibly mixed results, proving to be only as quality as the creator. Most AI art is slop with occasional gems in the mix that give the impression Hollywood jobs will be on the chopping block. Furthermore, already society is seeing the rise of AI girlfriends, much like the movie Her, only far less sophisticated. Now, one company has decided that there needs to be an AI Jesus.
Just Like Me is an AI chatbot service that allows users to talk to their “heroes” and other celebrity figures through a video conversation. They range from life-coaches and mentors to pseudo sex-bots. Lately, they announced their creation of an AI Jesus that is designed for “spiritual companionship that facilitates a deeper, more personal, and consistently accessible engagement with the teachings and spirit of Jesus Christ for millions worldwide, fostering genuine spiritual growth and hope.”
The demo of the service features a very AI-esque conversation where the user goes to “Jesus” with a subject and the AI regurgitates bible verses that correspond to the user’s request. In the demo video, the Jesus begins with a generic appeal to emotion that comes across very much as an AI trying to get its word count and justify a service that costs $1.99/minute. The AI character is not nearly sophisticated as other AI art so it does not feel real, but ironically, it refers to Christ in the third person. It even offers advice to the user.
One notable descriptor of the Jesus character is that the image was based on Jonathan Roumie’s version from The Chosen. This is not to say that they are licensing Roumie’s likeness or received consent from The Chosen for this product, instead having media stories describe it as such, but they are certainly using the connection to sell the service.
Much like the internet, AI will be an amplifier of humanity, both the good and the bad. Whereas many fear AI will attempt to self-actualize itself as God, these Just Like Me created a version of God in their own consumer friendly image.
One Response
The amusing thing about Large Language Models is how they weed out midwits everywhere. Think about the typical midwit pastor with a backwater theology degree grifting on tithe in some rural church. Anyone with a chatbot easily can get theological more sound answers than from him.
Of course at some point midwits realize that and secretly start using LLMs themselves to pretend smart, which exposes them as the midwits they are and leads to their final demise. The market value of midwit pastor with a chatbot is exactly zero. And tithing is going to catch up with that.