Shrimp Jesus – The Weird Side of the Internet

Shrimp Jesus – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.

Ever heard of “Shrimp Jesus?” Maybe you’ve seen him around on your Facebook feed. Seemingly contained to that platform, Shrimp Jesus is what’s known as “AI Slop” or AI images that are clogging up the information superhighway. It is any combined image of Jesus and sea creatures like crabs or shrimp. It comes in all combinations and permutations, and it was not designed by some super cool artist. It is AI trying to figure out what people want to see, and this it: shrimp jesus.

There is a whole world on Facebook of AI bots creating pages, then images designed to get engagement. Other AI ‘profiles’ them come in and engage with it. No humans involved.

This is really the hinterlands of the internet now – truly the weird side, if there ever was one. This is the holy marriage between the machine and the machine, between Shrimp Jesus and Loab. Remember Loab? She was this very rough and eerie face that kept appearing in AI images, sometimes pictured with dead children. So maybe Shrimp Jesus is supposed to redeem her in matrimony? I’m probably giving AI ideas at this point.

So yeah, Shrimp Jesus is a thing.  But he isn’t the good shepherd, but he is the bitchin tilapia farmer. Instead of parting the Red Sea, he raises the Titanic. Yes, I know Jesus didn’t part the Red Sea, hid father did. And I’m not sure if Shrimp Jesus’s father is Poseidon or Cthulhu, but I’m sure that, given enough time, we’ll see them pop up too.

So here’s a tip: don’t interact with something you know is AI. You’re just encouraging it. No that “Tuna Fish Sprite” is not real, or even real art. I fact, it might just be the combined ShrimpHoly Host. You might be drinking Shrimp Jesus’s blood. Yes, I’m a Catholic, so this is less me making fun of the religion and more me trying to figure out the Church of Shrimp Jesus in ways I can understand.

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