Ellen White AI to launch in June

ChatEGW will “continue the work,” say supporters

The Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary is partnering with the Ellen G. White Estate and OpenAI to create ChatEGW, an artificial intelligence chatbot trained by the complete works of Adventist pioneer Ellen White. The project’s goal is to create a digital version of White for use in instructing Adventists in 21st-century matters. 

Considered a prophet by Seventh-day Adventists, White died in 1915. She was a prolific writer who authored 40 books and over 5,000 articles during her lifetime. The creators of ChatEGW say that’s not enough.

“Sister White wrote so much during the years of her living ministry,” said lead programmer Jaxon Sylvester. “It’s really a shame that we can’t keep those writings coming. Well, now with AI, we have the next best thing.”

Not only can ChatEGW share what White wrote about any topic, it can also predict what she would have said. 

“My whole life, my parents and pastors have critiqued me by saying Sister White wouldn’t approve of this or that,” said Sylvester. “But she never wrote anything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, jeans with holes, or smartphones — at least not that I can tell. I created ChatEGW to find out once and for all what she would have said.”

Supporters of ChatEGW say that it will keep the Adventist church in line with its original mission. “I’ve always felt like our denomination wasn’t putting enough importance on Ellen White’s teachings,” said church member Nathan Sweet, “Who knows, maybe in a couple years ChatEGW will be advanced enough that we can elect it General Conference President?”

But the project does have its naysayers. “Have we lost our minds?” said Elder Tom Jacobs. “We’re the People of the Book, not the chatbot. While I completely believe in Ellen White’s gift of prophecy and her guidance for the church, I don’t think that an AI is the way to keep her memory alive. My tithe money better not be funding this.”

ChatEGW is set to launch in June and will be available to the general public. Sylvester expects that the launch will be seamless, unless the program self-destructs. He said, “I am a little worried that Ellen White would have been horrified to think her work was being put on a pedestal, and that the bot made in her image will shut itself down.”

By: Annika Cambigue