alt Hacker News>The Apologist Project is a non-profit on a mission to break down barriers to belief through a conversational AI trained on a range of topics
So it's intended to be a sort of evangelism?
Do people want AI to talk at them about religion?
I can imagine that being a big turn off for the targets of this AI.
Replies
npteljes • 01/22/2025
I think people just try things sometimes, and that this AI is be one of them. In the current times, people put AI everywhere, especially where there is textual communication involved. I think this effort fits well into this trend.
There are many religious questions people probably are scared to ask a human. Imagine any closeted gay or trans kid wanting to know if the way they feel is “wrong.” Just asking the question to your parents or a faith leader could raise suspicions and be dangerous.
So while I wish the world were one in which people didn’t have a reason to be scared to ask questions, that’s not the world we live in. Are LLMs an answer? I have no idea, but I understand the impulse to try.