CNN
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AI images have become a hot attraction on Facebook and other social media, where dramatic and farcical depictions of emotional scenes inspire users to hand out likes, shares and “Amens.”
Among the amusing images of fake children crying in the street and police officers rescuing inexplicably huge Bibles from the rain, countless depictions of Jesus Christ seem to take up a disproportionate amount of AI real estate.
That makes sense. The central figure of Christianity sparks powerful reactions from billions of followers around the world. Over the past 2000 years, faithful hands have worked to create portraits of their so-called savior, projecting onto him various theologies and mythologies combined with the aesthetics of the times: Jesus suffering on the cross, Jesus as Good Shepherd , Jesus the creator of miracles, Jesus the word made flesh, Jesus the cosmic judge.
Today, in the age of AI, Jesus can take on endless roles with just a few keystrokes. Jesus as durian fruit, for example. Or Jesus fighting Satan shirtless. Sometimes Jesus cuddles a person in need in a hospital bed, his chiseled features and strong hands providing divine comfort.
From Facebook
Although AI-generated images of Jesus depict the Christian savior in countless situations, they often also focus on his physical appearance.
None of these things are in the Bible, but they are alive in the minds of especially imaginative Christians, or simply those who want to engage easily on Facebook.
What’s troubling is how many AI-created images of Jesus are unnecessarily handsome and rugged, like one of those Instagram influencers who wears a lot of pendants and always wanders barefoot in the island jungle.
There’s nothing wrong with that in itself. The Bible does not elaborate on Jesus’ appearance, and it is certain that artists over the millennia have adopted creative license with regard to his physique (and, in another sense, his complexion).
However, generative AI, like the kind that can create images from text prompts, doesn’t work like an artist’s brain. All those beautiful AI Jesus images are created from templates that a machine gleans from the information it’s given. What does this say about us, and how do we perceive the figures most important to our cultural identity?
Since the programs that generate AI art are trained on existing art and image forms, the riddle of the beautiful AI Jesus has two parts: how Jesus was depicted in the images transmitted to these machines and how the machines interpret the images given to them. to spit out new ones.
We will start with the historical part first.
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Some AI images of Jesus contain inexplicable details that are neither biblically nor historically informed.
“The depiction of religious figures in an idealized form long predates Christianity,” says art historian and former classics professor Brenda Sanderson. “The Greeks and Romans represented their gods in a way that exemplified strength and good health. While some images of Jesus are not intended to be sexual, they reflect a formal ideal that corresponds to the spiritual ideal. »
Sanderson also says that some of these depictions simply reflect the artist’s sensibility. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is considered one of the most beautiful achievements of sacred art. While its vibrant frescoes depict saints, prophets and figures from the Bible, it also includes a full depiction of God’s bare buttocks.
“Things like this, which some might consider sacrilegious today, were not as scandalous back then,” she says.
The question of whether a religious depiction is “too sexy” doesn’t stop with Jesus.
A famous pair of sculptures created for St. Paul’s Cathedral in Liège, Belgium, in the 1800s have become a fixture in art history. The first, “The Evil Angel,” was created by artist Joseph Geefs, but was removed from the church because church officials were concerned about its effect on female worshipers and reportedly said, “The devil is too sublime.”
It was replaced by a different sculpture by Geefs’ brother Guillaume. However, many art lovers humorously consider “The Evil Genius” to be even more suggestive than the original.
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“The Evil Genius”, the second statue of Lucifer created for Saint-Paul Cathedral in Liège, Belgium. The statue was meant to be a less sexualized improvement on an earlier work.
Even today, the question of sexualized religious images in art is still relevant. In early 2024, a “sexualized” painting of Jesus by Spanish artist Salustiano García Cruz was decried by critics as “offensive” and “evil.”
“Biblical figures and saints have often been made attractive or ‘sexy’ in art history, from images of the scantily clad young Saint Sebastian pierced with arrows to the naked body of Mary Magdalene covered only by her hair, or the muscular torso of Christ in the works of Michelangelo and others,” art historian Morgan Haigh told the BBC about García’s work.
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The Spanish artist Salustiano García Cruz next to the Christ that he painted for the official poster of the “Semana Santa de Sevilla 2024”, the Holy Week of Seville. The poster aroused the anger of ultra-conservatives, who demanded its removal, deeming it “offensive” to Catholics.
Now that we know that there is a long history of humans depicting their religious figures in an idealized form, the predominance of the handsome AI Jesus makes more sense.
Christopher Framer, a certified generative AI programmer from Petaluma, California, explains that different AI models are trained on different works of art, and the outcome also depends on a person’s input.
“From a consumer perspective, you generally can’t know what type of images an AI model has been fed, but what is generated can vary depending on other specifications like image type: person does she specify that she wants a photorealistic image? You see a lot of them on Facebook.
Framer says other entries can vary the images significantly, such as adding words like “strong,” “fight” or “power.”
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AI images of Jesus may contain details that emphasize other ideals, such as physical strength.
“I can’t tell you for sure, but when people are looking to create images that elicit a specific response, all they have to do is add one word or describe a situation, and it can make a huge difference.”
This is one reason why some depictions of Jesus AI include curious details, such as tattoos, bulging biceps, hairy chests, or soulful, dreamy eyes.
“These programs don’t really know who Jesus is or what he means. They know from what they have been given that most images of Jesus can look a certain way. Adding more information to a prompt introduces more information into the image that may conflict with what people think a religious image should look like. »
From Facebook
Note the tattoos on this AI representation of Jesus, as well as an encouragement to interact with the image.
AI-generated images are becoming something of a problem on social media, where interacting with a religious image can take half a second and doesn’t require careful consideration of the content. Many AI-generated photos of Jesus online also include elements of patriotism or politics that, Framer explains, change the nature of the depiction.
Other complications may explain the persistence of Jesus, a handsome AI. Some AI art experts worry that the more images AI creates, the more the programs that run them create a kind of “feedback loop,” where the same type of images are generated over and over again.
These images attract thousands of likes and comments as people scroll through them, even though they are sometimes very obviously manipulated. Many pages featuring this type of content also contain links to questionable websites, spammy hashtags, or repeated variations of the same type of image.
Overall, it’s not a very human experience. It makes sense that the images of Jesus they post also seem a bit inhuman.
