Would You Chat With Biblical Figures on Your Telephone? There’s an App For That.

Look lengthy sufficient in a given app retailer and also you’ll seemingly discover purposes designed to do nearly the whole lot, from measuring wi-fi alerts to figuring out constellations to giving detailed transit instructions. Evidently, you can too add “chat with an AI programmed to suppose it’s Jesus Christ” to that listing. A latest Washington Publish article detailed the event of an app referred to as Textual content With Jesus, which helps you to — shock, shock — chat with Jesus.

Or, on this case, a ChatGPT immediate that’s been instructed to reply within the voice of Jesus. Or, for that matter, one in every of numerous different figures from the Bible — together with Judas, Job and Devil.

The article, written by Fiona André, falls firmly within the reality is stranger than fiction camp. One of many particulars in André’s story sounds particularly like one thing a author seeking to satirize the tech world may take into account placing right into a story earlier than pausing. The element? As André writes, “Many individuals within the Bible, Mary Magdalene amongst them, are solely accessible within the app’s premium model, which prices $2.99 a month.” For those who instructed me that this was a plot level in a George Saunders quick story, I’d imagine you.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t extra sophisticated issues being performed to duplicate totally different figures’ voices utilizing AI and chat know-how. Earlier this 12 months, Polygon printed an enchanting interview with Chris Onstad, creator of the comedian Achewood, through which Onstad described his efforts to develop an AI that might reply questions within the voice of one of many characters from the comedian.

Because the Publish‘s article about Textual content With Jesus notes, some reactions to the app appear to be comparatively welcoming, whereas others have discovered it blasphemous. It additionally begs the query: simply how lengthy will it’s earlier than somebody begins a faith primarily based on one thing a chatbot instructed them?