Leaders at Peter’s Chapel in Lucerne, Switzerland, have worked with a local university research lab for years on immersive reality. Deus in Machina, an installation launched in August, deployed an avatar of Jesus, powered by artificial intelligence and capable of speaking in 100 different languages with visitors.
“We wanted to see and understand how people react to an AI Jesus,” Marco Schmid, a theologian with the Peterskapelle church, told The Guardian. “What would they talk with him about? Would there be interest in talking to him?” There was. Once the AI program was trained in theological texts, visitors were invited to ask questions of the long-haired Jesus image. (The interactions were not confessions and people were advised not to disclose personal information.)
Generated by AI, his real-time answers generated many positive reactions. Data on the installation will be revealed next week, but feedback from more than 230 people who took part indicated two-thirds found it to be a “spiritual experience,” Schmid said. A local reporter, however, described the device’s answers as sometimes “trite, repetitive and [exuding] a wisdom sometimes more reminiscent of calendar cliches ... .” The experiment also generated criticism within the church community.
