{"id":273876,"date":"2025-10-03T06:32:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/273876\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T06:32:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:32:21","slug":"faith-communities-including-jews-experiment-with-ai-tools-to-mixed-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/273876\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith communities, including Jews, experiment with AI tools — to mixed feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence, the technology upending nearly every corner of society, is creeping into religion, serving up virtual Jesus and automated sermons \u2014 a change drawing mixed reviews from the faithful.<\/p>\n

Religious chatbots and other faith-based digital tools are growing in number, offering counsel, comfort and spiritual guidance during an age of rapidly transforming socialization and engagement.<\/p>\n

But feedback is mixed.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Gilah Langner noted that halakha \u2014 the collective body of Jewish law, derived from the Torah \u2014 has many interpretations.<\/p>\n

Jews need other Jews, with their insights and perspective, to connect them to the tradition of their faith, she said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think you really get that from AI. It\u2019s possible it would be very nuanced, but the emotional connection is missing,\u201d Langner told AFP.<\/p>\n

AI can make people feel \u201cisolated and not in an organic connection to a living tradition,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

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Ultra-Orthodox students study Talmud at the Ateret Shlomo Yeshiva in Rishon Lezion, June 11, 2025. (Shlomi Cohen\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

In the Christian world, an app called Text with Jesus has thousands of paying subscribers. It lets people ostensibly ask questions of Mary, Joseph, Jesus and nearly all 12 apostles.<\/p>\n

The idea is to educate, said Stephane Peter, CEO of Catloaf Software, which created the app.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a new way to address religious issues in an interactive way,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n

Although the app makes clear it uses AI, virtual Moses and Jesus don\u2019t recognize that as such when asked the specific question.<\/p>\n

Peter said that ChatGPT\u2019s latest version, GPT-5, on which Text with Jesus is based, follows instructions better than previous iterations. It is also better at staying in whatever character it is supposed to be and can deny more forcefully that it\u2019s a bot.<\/p>\n

He said many people consider the app blasphemous, but it has still received a good rating in the App Store \u2014 4.7 out of 5.<\/p>\n

Online ministry Catholic Answers said it got a taste of how sensitive all this can be when it launched the animated AI character \u201cFather Justin\u201d last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people were offended it was using a priest character,\u201d said Christopher Costello, the ministry\u2019s director of information technology.<\/p>\n

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A photo taken on September 1, 2025 shows the letters AI for Artificial Intelligence on a laptop screen (R) next to the logo of the ChatGPT application on a smartphone screen in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. (Kirill Kudryavtsev \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Days later, Catholic Answers stripped the avatar of its title to make it simply Justin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to replace humans. We just want to help,\u201d Costello said.<\/p>\n

No \u2018heart and spirit\u2019<\/p>\n

Other major religions have similar apps, such as Deen Buddy for Islam, Vedas AI for Hinduism, and AI Buddha. Most bill themselves as interfaces with scripture, not incarnations of actual holiness.<\/p>\n

Nica, a 28-year-old Filipina who belongs to the Anglican Church, said she uses ChatGPT almost daily to study scripture \u2014 even though her pastor wants her to stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s an added layer,\u201d said Nica, who declined to give her last name.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am in a Christian community and my husband and I have spiritual mentors. It\u2019s just that sometimes I have random thoughts about the Bible and I want answers immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not many will acknowledge using AI assistants in matters of religion, even though some of these apps have been downloaded millions of times.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who want to believe in God maybe shouldn\u2019t ask a chatbot. They should talk to people that believe, too,\u201d said a woman named Emanuela as she left St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral in New York.<\/p>\n

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Cardinal Timothy Dolan stands under a new mural dedicated to New York City\u2019s immigrant communities and honoring the city\u2019s first responders during a mass at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral on September 21, 2025 in New York City. (Spencer Platt \/ Getty Images North America \/ Getty Images via AFP)<\/p>\n

For their part, Christian communities do not reject AI outright.<\/p>\n

Peter said he had spoken to clergy members and they agreed that AI could be a tool to educate people.<\/p>\n

Last year, Pope Francis named Demis Hassabis, a co-founder of AI research lab Google DeepMind, to serve in the Vatican\u2019s scientific academy.<\/p>\n

And as much of society experiments with artificial intelligence, so does the clergy.<\/p>\n

In November 2023, pastor Jay Cooper of the Violet Crown City Church in Austin, Texas, had an AI assistant deliver an entire sermon. He warned parishioners in advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people freaked out, said we are now an AI church,\u201d said Cooper. But, he added, the service lured some people who did not usually attend church, especially video-game buffs.<\/p>\n

Cooper said he has considered other ways of integrating AI into his church but has not repeated the AI sermon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad we did it,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it missed the heart and spirit of what we usually do.\u201d<\/p>\n


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