{"id":18662,"date":"2023-08-16T10:17:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T14:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=18662"},"modified":"2023-08-16T10:17:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T14:17:01","slug":"new-ai-app-allows-users-to-text-with-jesus-and-other-biblical-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/08\/new-ai-app-allows-users-to-text-with-jesus-and-other-biblical-characters","title":{"rendered":"New AI App Allows Users to ‘Text With’ Jesus and Other Biblical Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you\u2019ve ever wondered how Jonah felt while he was trapped inside the whale for three days, why Judas betrayed Jesus, or why Solomon had so many wives, a new app called Text with Jesus is your chance to ask yourself.<\/p>\n

Text with Jesus, a new app launched in July, is the latest creation from Cat Loaf software, an app-development company in Los Angeles. The app replicates an instant messaging platform with biblical figures impersonated by the AI program ChatGPT. Characters available on the app include the Holy Family, the apostles, the prophets, Ruth, Job and Abraham\u2019s nephew, Lot.<\/p>\n

St\u00e9phane Peter, the app\u2019s developer and the company\u2019s CEO said, \u201cWe stir the AI and tell it: You are Jesus, or you are Moses, or whoever, and knowing what you already have in your database, you respond to the questions based on their characters.\u201d Peter, who founded Cat Loaf software in 2011, has built multi-static applications with historical figures, Text from the Founding Fathers, Text from Oscar White, and more recently, Text from Jesus, where users received quotes from the person in question but couldn\u2019t interact.<\/p>\n

When ChatGPT was released last year, the 46-year-old developer from France, who came to the United States, wondered how to use AI to upgrade the Text from Jesus app. In February, he started digging into OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research laboratory that launched ChatGPT and created a proper chat from a simple devotional app. He said, \u201cInstead of just getting a daily Bible verse, now you get a chance through this app to chat with Jesus or anybody else in the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are few limits to what users can ask the app\u2019s characters. Whether the topic is complex theological matters or personal relationship advice, they create elaborate responses using at least one Bible verse. When asked how He defined a good Christian, the app\u2019s Jesus replied that such a person will \u201cprofess faith in me, but also follow my teachings and embody them in your life,\u201d quoting a passage from Matthew where Jesus teaches that the greatest commandments are, \u201cLove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind\u201d and \u201cLove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n