GabyThe Chapel of Saint Peter in Lucerne has replaced the priest in the confessional with a digital avatar. Jesus The installation titled Deus in Machina is one of the scientific initiatives of a local university’s research laboratory that studies immersive reality.
A small church was considered the oldest in Lucerne for a long time. But after the installation in the confessional… AI -the avatar of Jesus, who is capable of communicating in 100 different languages, was recognized as not being foreign to everything new. Although some criticized such an innovation.
What else is known about the new experience of St. Peter’s Chapel?
“This was a true experiment. We wanted to see and understand how people react to Jesus.” artificial intelligence “What are they talking about with him? And will they find it interesting to talk to him? We are probably pioneers in this,” said theologian Mark Schmidt from the church.
After a series of experiments with virtual and augmented reality A team of researchers reached an agreement with St. Peter’s Church that the next step will be to use such an avatar in its confessional. Marco Schmidt noted, “We discussed whose avatar it would be – a theologian, a person, or a saint? But then we realized that the best figure would be Jesus himself.”
As a result, the church installed a computer program with artificial intelligence in its confessional. After it was trained on theological texts, visitors were invited to ask questions to a digital image of Jesus, which was projected through a grid screen. He responded in real time and also used answers generated by artificial intelligence.
People were advised not to disclose any personal information. Over the course of two months of the experiment, more than 1,000 participants, including Muslims and tourists from distant countries like China and Vietnam, took the opportunity to communicate with the AI avatar of Jesus.
Data on the results of the experiment will be presented to the scientific community soon. According to the testimonies of 230 users, two-thirds of them described it as a “spiritual experience,” said Schmidt. There were also more negative reviews. Some participants in the experiment reported that talking to the machine was quite challenging. One local reporter, who also took the opportunity to communicate with the AI avatar, described its responses as rather banal.
According to the theologian, the experiment was also criticized by some members of the church community. Catholic colleagues protested against such use of the confessional, while Protestant colleagues were likely outraged by the use of such an image for the installation. Ultimately, the authors of the idea decided that the AI avatar should remain an experiment, the publication reported. The Guardian .
They emphasized the positive potential of this idea. “It is truly a simple, accessible tool that can be used to talk about religion, Christianity, and faith,” noted Mark Schmidt.
