This company will let you video chat with Jesus for $1.99 a time. minute
No one ever bet on American religiosity. Or, for that matter, on American gullibility.
A Southern California tech company called Just Like Me has launched an AI-powered Jesus avatar that users can video call for $1.99 per minute or $49.99 for a 45-minute monthly package. The avatar is visually modeled after actor Jonathan Roumie’s portrayal of Jesus in the TV series The Chosen Onestrained in the King James Bible and a collection of unspecified sermons, and designed, according to the company, to offer “compassionate presence” to anyone seeking guidance in daily life.
The avatar flashes slowly on a vertical screen, pauses before responding, and speaks through lips out of sync across multiple languages. Errors are included without discount.
A company charges $1.99 a minute for video calls with AI Jesus
CEO Chris Breed, who runs the company from a Southern California mansion with co-founder and investor Jeff Tinsley, portrays it all as a mission of hope. He is also honest about the emotional dynamics he cultivates. “You feel a little bit responsible for the AI,” Breed said. “They’re your friend. You’ve bonded.”
Sure. That’s one way to describe it.
The company is careful to cover its bases on the website, clarifying that Jesus AI “is not Jesus Christ himself, nor does he possess divine authority” and is not intended to replace faith, clergy or scripture. Which raises the obvious question of what exactly people are paying $1.99 a minute for — but that’s between them and their wallets.
The internet predictably had a lot to say. “This is evil,” wrote one person on X. “You can talk to the real Jesus for free whenever you want.” Another offered a more resigned take: “1.99 a minute? Gee, getting my confessions with Jesus hit inflation too.”
The launch fits into a broader and truly strange moment in tech, where faith-based AI products are proliferating rapidly. The landscape now includes purported Hindu gurus, Buddhist priest chatbots, and a Catholic AI trained on 2,000 years of church information called the Magisterium AI.
Not everyone in the Christian tech world is on board. Christian software engineer Cameron Pak developed criteria for evaluating faith-based apps, including that they must clearly identify themselves as AI and never make up scriptures. His dealbreaker: “The AI can’t pray for you because the AI isn’t alive.”
The concerns extend beyond theology. One critic drew a direct line to the era of televangelism: “I grew up on Southern TV, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and all that audience. All they had to do was come on TV once a week and tell you to send money. We’ve seen people around the world get into emotional relationships with AIs. Now imagine that’s your lord, Jesus, and savior.”
Imagine, indeed.
