Digital Jesus: an inquiry in artificial intelligence

This paper explores the unique capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly GPT-3, in creating a digital representation of Jesus. The core of the study involves fine-tuning the AI model on the sayings of Jesus as presented in multiple English translations. The primary objective is to a...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:The Interplay of Religion and Artificial Intelligence
Main Author: Reed, Randall (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2025
In: Religion
Year: 2025, Volume: 55, Issue: 3, Pages: 676-698
Further subjects:B text analysis
B Jesus
B Artificial Intelligence
B NLP (natural language processing)
B GPT-3
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This paper explores the unique capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly GPT-3, in creating a digital representation of Jesus. The core of the study involves fine-tuning the AI model on the sayings of Jesus as presented in multiple English translations. The primary objective is to analyze how the model, through this specific training, constructs and conveys a version of Jesus. This playful exploration focuses on the AI’s responses to a series of questions after fine-tuning contrasted with the responses of the original GPT-3 model. This study provides specific insights, such as the emergence of a more authorative and aphoristic style in the fine-tuned model while also raising important questions about whether and how AI might have a role in understanding narratives and religious texts as it too functions as an interpreter of Jesus.
ISSN:1096-1151
Contains:Enthalten in: Religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2025.2502293