ChatBots: For the Faithful Factually?

May 19, 2023

Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.

I spotted Twitch’s AI-fueled ask_Jesus. You can take a look at this link. The idea is that smart software responds in a way a cherished figure would. If you watch the questions posed by registered Twitchers, you can wait a moment and the ai Jesus will answer the question. Rather than paraphrase or quote the smart software, I suggest you navigate to this Bezos bulldozer property and check out the “service.”

I mention the Amazon offering because I noted another smart religion robot write up called “India’s Religious AI Chatbots Are Speaking in the Voice of God and Condoning Violence.” The article touches upon several themes which I include in my 2023 lecture series about the shadow Web and misinformation from bad actors and wonky smart software.

This Rest of World article reports:

In January 2023, when ChatGPT was setting new growth records, Bengaluru-based software engineer Sukuru Sai Vineet launched GitaGPT. The chatbot, powered by GPT-3 technology, provides answers based on the Bhagavad Gita, a 700-verse Hindu scripture. GitaGPT mimics the Hindu god Krishna’s tone — the search box reads, “What troubles you, my child?”

The trope is for the “user” to input a question and the smart software outputs a response. But there is not just Sukuru’s version. There are allegedly five GitaGPTs available “with more on the way.”

The article includes a factoid in a quote allegedly from a human AI researcher; to wit:

Religion is the single largest business in India.

I did not know this. I thought it was outsourced work. product. Live and learn.

Is there some risk with religious chatbots? The write up states:

Religious chatbots have the potential to be helpful, by demystifying books like the Bhagavad Gita and making religious texts more accessible, Bindra said. But they could also be used by a few to further their own political or social interests, he noted. And, as with all AI, these chatbots already display certain political biases. [The Bindra is Jaspreet Bindra, AI researcher and author of The Tech Whisperer]

I don’t want to speculate what the impact of a religious chatbot might be if the outputs were tweaked for political or monetary purposes.

I will leave that to you.

Stephen E Arnold, May 19, 2023

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under AI, News, Social Media

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.