Swiss church uses AI Jesus hologram to take confessionals

St Peters’ Chapel in Lucerne, the city’s oldest church, has recently swapped out its priest for an AI-powered Jesus hologram in the confessional booth.

For the experiment, the church worked together with the Realities Research Lab at Lucerne’s HSLU university. More specifically, it was a project by Philipp Haslbauer and Aljosa Smolic from the Immersive Realities Center and Marco Schmid, a theologian at the parish. 

“It was really an experiment. We had a discussion about what kind of avatar it would be – a theologian, a person or a saint? But then we realised the best figure would be Jesus himself. We wanted to see and understand how people react to an AI Jesus. What would they talk with him about? Would there be interest in talking to him? We’re probably pioneers in this”, said Marco Schmid in an interview with The Guardian.

In order to be prepared for its mission, the installation called “Deus in Machina” was fed sacred scripture and theological texts from the internet and was trained to speak 100 different languages. A test with 30 people was also carried out before the installation of the avatar in order to assure Deus in Machina wouldn’t say anything illegal, explicit or clashing with church teachings.

Since its installation in the church in August, more than 1,000 people from all over the world and from all different kinds of religions have been talking to the hologram. No incidents were noted, although support is always close by just in case Jesus says something inappropriate.

“I have the impression that sometimes he was really very good and people were incredibly happy and surprised and inspired,” Schmid said. “And then there were also moments where he was somehow not so good, maybe more superficial.” 

Feedback on the installation turned out to be rather mitigated. Some of those who were able to sit across the hologram found it to be a spiritual experience, while others found it hard or even impossible to talk to a machine. Online too, social media users haven’t hesitated to share their feelings about Deus in Machina.

“I think there is a thirst to talk with Jesus. People want to have an answer: they want words and to listen to what he’s saying. I think that’s one element of it. Then of course there’s the curiosity of it. They want to see what this is”, Schmid concluded. 

The aim of the Jesus hologram was never to replace an actual confession nor to imitate it but to highlight the opportunities and risks involved when using artificial intelligence in something like pastoral care. A presentation and discussion of the project’s results will take place on 27 November.