{"id":12136,"date":"2024-11-22T10:21:11","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T15:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=12136"},"modified":"2024-11-22T10:21:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T15:21:11","slug":"church-has-an-ai-jesus-hologram-taking-confession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/11\/church-has-an-ai-jesus-hologram-taking-confession.html","title":{"rendered":"Church Has an AI Jesus Hologram Taking Confession"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adobe Stock | Inset: Catholic City Church of Lucerne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In another intersection of faith and AI, a Swiss church is featuring a hologram Jesus that not only listens to parishioners\u2019 confessions, but also offers advice. St Peter’s Church in Lucerne, Switzerland has installed an AI-powered Jesus hologram\u00a0as part of an art project. Referred to as \u201cDeus in Machina,\u201d the church contains a shrine with a confessional and a screen with a digitally rendered face of Jesus. Worshipers are being encouraged to share their confessions with the screen, which is powered by AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised, it was so easy, and though it’s a machine, it gave me so much advice,\u201d said<\/a> one worshiper. Two thirds of those who spoke to the AI Jesus reported a \u201cspiritual experience.\u201d AI Jesus is equipped to understand 100 languages and users are prompted to \u201cnot disclose personal information under any circumstances,\u201d and to \u201cuse this service at your own risk.\u201d Users must press a button to accept the terms and can interact with the AI in whatever way they choose. There are also human staff near the installation to help users. Examples of questions discussed with the AI included how to break \u201cthe spiral of violence,\u201d to which the AI answered, \u201cthrough prayer and not seeking retribution.\u201d Being installed in a Catholic church, when asked about why women aren\u2019t allowed to serve as priests, the AI responds by saying, \u201cThe scriptures teach that certain roles are defined within the church, each role and task has its place in God\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The display is meant to be temporary, though AI has made its way in many theological circles, including denominational websites promoting AI chat bots. The display is planned to run until November 27, when it will lead a presentation of the results from the conversations it has had. The program was developed by Philipp Haslbauer and Aljosa Smolic from the Immersive Realities Center at Hochschule Luzern. Marco Schmid, a theologian at St Peter’s Parish.also assisted with the program\u2019s development. The program received training on the New Testament through the internet.<\/p>\n

Critics<\/a> of the project called it a \u201cgimmick,\u201d with one warning the project \u201cwill not be without consequences.\u201d Schmid defended the project. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing here is an experiment, we wanted to launch the discussion by letting people have a very concrete experience with AI. That way we have a foundation for talking about it and discussing it with one another.\u201d One benefit of a well-trained AI would be the availability of spiritual help 24\/7, something human counterparts struggle to offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In another intersection of faith and AI, a Swiss church is featuring a hologram Jesus that not only listens to parishioners\u2019 confessions, but also offers advice. St Peter’s Church in Lucerne, Switzerland has installed an AI-powered Jesus hologram\u00a0as part of an art project. Referred to as \u201cDeus in Machina,\u201d the church contains a shrine with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":12127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic"],"yoast_head":"\nChurch Has an AI Jesus Hologram Taking Confession<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/11\/church-has-an-ai-jesus-hologram-taking-confession.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church Has an AI Jesus Hologram Taking Confession\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In another intersection of faith and AI, a Swiss church is featuring a hologram Jesus that not only listens to parishioners\u2019 confessions, but also offers advice. St Peter’s Church in Lucerne, Switzerland has installed an AI-powered Jesus hologram\u00a0as part of an art project. 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St Peter’s Church in Lucerne, Switzerland has installed an AI-powered Jesus hologram\u00a0as part of an art project. 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