A Swiss church recently installed an artificially intelligent version of Jesus Christ that would be available for churchgoers to interact with in a confessional booth. The invention called “Deus in machina” was recently unveiled at Peter’s Chapel, a Catholic church in Lucerne, Switzerland as part of a social experiment in coordination with a local university research institution.
Marco Schmid, a theologian with Peter’s Chapel shed light on the motivations behind the AI rendering of Christ. “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,” he said.
Reportedly, people were encouraged to enter the confessional booth and interact with the AI Jesus as if it were a real confession. The installation was available over the span of two months 24 hours a day. While findings from the experiment have not been released, Schmid claimed it was a “spiritual experience” for those who participated with it. “So we can say they had a religiously positive moment with this AI Jesus,” he explained. “For me, that was surprising.”
However, not everyone reacted to the AI installation with optimism. “God’s law cannot be broken,” one person posted on X. “AI is a threat to humanity, and the Swiss church must not allow Jesus as a chatbot. This highlights the need for careful judgement and adherence to spiritual teachings in the face of advancing technology. As it says in the Bible, ‘For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect’ (Matthew 24:24).”
Furthermore, Peter Kirchschläger, a professor of theology and ethics at the University of Lucerne, said, “We should be careful when it comes to faith and pastoral care when finding meaning in religion.” He added, “That’s an area where we humans are actually vastly superior to machines, so we should do these things themselves,” he added.
Others suggested the project was outright “blasphemous.” Canadian Pastor Mark Kleiner reacted, “We will use technology here at the church like a little garnish. But in terms of the heart of the matter, I’m not convinced that it’s really getting to the point.” He added, “It’s like if I’m physically starving and I have a choice between a ham and cheese on a kaiser or a hologram of that sandwich, I’m going to go with the actual sandwich.”
“The idea that we can find some sort of technological way to get around that is, you know, concerns me because of what I’m seeing out there,” Kleiner continued. “What I’m encountering are people incredibly lonely. There’s so much brittleness in relationships nowadays, and the church is really a mechanism. It’s the way that we bring people together so that we get to know who we are, who each other is, and our needs.”
Watch a demonstration of the AI jesus below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.