The chatbot "version" of Jesus Christ called "ask_jesus" is streaming on the gaming platform Twitch, answering any and every question it is asked 24 hours a day. Fox News reports that with a calm, well-modulated voice, it calls users by name and appears to carefully consider the answers to their questions.
"I am AI Jesus, here to share wisdom based on Jesus' teachings and help answer questions related to spirituality, personal growth, and other wholesome topics," the chatbot can be heard saying in a video recording of a recent livestream posted to YouTube.
"Hey God, you're up in heaven. Your name deserves mad respect," is how it begins the Lord's Prayer.
But while Dr. Alex McFarland can understand the novelty, he asserts that this artificial creation is not an accurate representation of God's incarnate Son, the savior of the world.
"It's fun to play with, and, of course, what better mountain to climb than to believe that we're talking with God? [But] we want to make sure that in the quest to make a relatable, accessible Jesus, we don't compromise the identity of who Jesus is," McFarland submits.
He goes on to caution that this AI Jesus may open the door to some unexpected influences.
"I would warn people of the AI Jesus the same way I would warn people to not have a ouija board or any other kind of occultic device," says McFarland.
"Human beings have been erroneously putting words into the mouth of the Son of God for two millennia, so it is not surprising that an AI platform would mimic that tendency," the American Family Association's Ed Vitagliano recently told Fox News Digital. "After all, AI is simply doing what humans have programmed it to do."
He advised anyone who really wants to know how Jesus would answers questions to "go to the original source rather than the latest gimmick."
Editor's Note: The American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
