Iran (MNN) – Transform Iran’s new AI tool, Kairos, offers Biblically-grounded and real-time answers to questions about God and the Bible.
Lana Silk with Transform Iran says the end goal is not solely to be in the AI space, but to solve real problems and help people connect with the Gospel. However, it is crucial to have Christian involvement in the fast-moving world of technology. This dilemma was forefront as Transform Iran sought to make their online apologetic center more user-friendly.
(Photo is a representative stock image courtesy of Tara Winstead via Pexels)
“People want more bite-size, more personalized. So, in order to solve that problem, we began down this journey towards AI. We ended up with a tool that was capable of even more than we had hoped. And with that, we had to start dealing with the challenges of AI. How do we make sure that it says truthful to the Word of God? How do we make sure that it’s entirely reliable? So when people are asking it questions, they can know what’s coming back to them is 100% Scripture-based.”
Based in Truth
To do this Transform Iran had to tackle the massive concern of “AI hallucinations”. This term refers to the practice of AI fabricating the answers to questions for which it cannot find a clear answer. A tool making up information about God would be a massive concern for a Bible-based tool. The Transform Iran team was able to circumvent this by programing Kairos to admit when it does not have the answers.
(Photo is courtesy of Transform Iran)
When a person asks Kairos a question it searches the database of Biblical information it has been given by Transform Iran’s team of theologians, apologists, software engineers, and researchers. If there is no answer available, it is programed to respond, “I don’t know. You can check back in a few days. Our team has been notified that that this question still needs answering.”
Who is Chatting?
This transparency helps with another concern about the perceptions of the user. Do they know “who” is answering the questions? It is critical that when AI is doing the work, that is clear.
“We don’t want people to be misled and to get into a place where they think they’re interacting with a human, or worse, with God himself. So we’ve put in measures in Kairos where we are actively protecting the answers and making sure that the way that it answers the questions that people give it don’t mislead them into thinking that they are interacting with a live pastor on the other end, or worse, texting Jesus, so to speak.”
Meeting a Need
In places like Iran, Kairos is meeting a very real need that a human can’t do as effectively right now. Silk says there are people across Iran who are afraid to text, email, or call Transform Iran because of government tracking. When people go online, Transform Iran offers a free, safe and reliable VPN to help them access Kairos and ask their questions. She says it’s not a replacement for human discipling, but it is a tool they hope will bolster the Church.
“Kairos is such a phenomenal tool, but there is a really sort of noisy AI space out there. We really believe we have created something uniquely powerful that does overcome the constantly talked about challenges of AI. So, pray for us that we can really get the word out there for it. We want people to benefit from what we’ve developed. It’s available in 250 plus languages. It’s free to use.”
Please pray that God would open doors to help Kairos help accelerate the Gospel in hard-to-reach areas like Iran. Pray also for the Transform Iran team as they continue to monitor Kairos, answer questions, and honor God with this new technology.
If you want to learn more about Kairos or send it along to someone who may benefit from it, click here.
Header photo is a representative stock image courtesy of Ron Lach via Pexels.
