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AI Jesus in the confessional: Weird or the future of the church?
An experimental AI Jesus in St. Peter's Chapel in Lucerne surprised believers during confession in 2024.
AI Jesus in the confessional: Weird or the future of the church?
A revolutionary experiment was launched in St. Peter's Chapel in Lucerne that blurs the line between technology and religion: the AI Jesus. This innovative art installation, launched in the summer of 2024, allowed believers to communicate with a digital Jesus in the confessional. The project is backed by a team from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences that wanted to redefine church service using state-of-the-art AI technology. Visitors could seek a spiritual experience on one side, while on the other side of the confessional, the video avatar of Jesus on a monitor gave the answers generated by ChatGPT, such as Heidelberg24 reported.
Interactive experiences in the confessional
The two-month project, called “Deus in Machina” (God in the Machine), allowed over 1,000 people to come into contact with the AI Jesus. As the first results show, two thirds of those surveyed described the experience as promoting spirituality. Despite some positive feedback, there were also critical voices: Some users found the digital Jesus' answers often hackneyed and repetitive. However, Marco Schmid, a theological co-designer of the project, noted that the experiment was important to find out how people would react to such technological interaction Futurezone added.
The project also received particular attention from theologians who expressed concerns that the AI model conveyed an outdated image of Jesus and his teachings. Anna Puzio, an expert in technology ethics, criticized the AI Jesus' stereotypical appearance and responses, which are based on historical religious texts and thus do not reflect modern theological diversity. While the experiment in St. Peter's Chapel, founded in the 12th century, was intended as an artistic experiment, it raises crucial questions about the role of AI in religion. The evaluation of the conversations will now continue in order to gain deeper insights into user behavior.