Confess to an Interactive AI Jesus Christ at This Church

AI is the next big thing to take over, and it has now been added to a church.

Peter’s chapel in Switzerland has installed an artificial intelligence-powered Jesus that is capable of speaking more than 100 different languages, The Guardian reports.

Marco Schmid, a theologian with the church spoke about adding the AI Jesus to the church.

“It was really an experiment. 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 told the outlet.

The installation, Deus in Machina, launched in August as part of a years-long partnership with a local university research lab focused on immersive reality. Following earlier experiments with virtual and augmented reality, the church took the next step by introducing an avatar.

“We had a discussion about what kind of avatar it would be – a theologian, a person or a saint? But then we realized the best figure would be Jesus himself,” Schmid said of the experiment.

Faced with limited space and the need for privacy, the church replaced its priest with a computer setup in the confessional booth. After training the AI with theological texts, visitors were invited to interact with the AI Jesus displayed through a latticework screen.

The avatar responded in real time, generating answers via artificial intelligence. Visitors were cautioned against sharing personal information and reminded that the interaction was not a traditional confession.

“It’s not a confession,” emphasized Schmid. “We’re not trying to replicate that.”

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Over two months, more than 1,000 people, including Muslims and tourists from countries like China and Vietnam, engaged with the AI Jesus. Initial feedback from over 230 users revealed that two-thirds found it a “spiritual experience.” Schmid noted, “We can say they had a religiously positive moment with this AI Jesus. That was surprising to me.”

However, others were critical of how the confessional was set up as well as the use of Jesus’ image in that way.

Ultimately, it was decided that the AI Jesus was best left as an experiment.

“To put a Jesus like that permanently, I wouldn’t do that. Because the responsibility would be too great,” Schmid shared.

Schmid went on to reveal that the experiment had shown that people were looking for a new way to connect with religion, one beyond traditional means.