AI-Powered Jesus Makes Debut At Switzerland Chapel

In Lucerne, Switzerland, Peter’s Chapel, the town’s oldest church, has embraced the future with a bold spiritual experiment—introducing AI Jesus, or “Deus in Machina,” a holographic, multilingual avatar designed to replace the traditional confessional priest, according to a video posted on the Firstpost YouTube channel, shared on their Beyond Bizarre series on Dec. 1. 

This AI-powered Jesus offered visitors a chance to confess their sins and seek advice in a therapy-like session, without the absolution. Created as part of an experiment to see how people would react to interacting with a virtual Jesus, the church rigged up a confessional booth with computers and cables, offering a holographic Jesus who can speak 100 languages but who still requires users to press a button to engage.

However, “Visitors were warned not to spill their darkest secrets or personal details like your Netflix password,” the video noted. 

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Participants had mixed feelings about the experiment.

ABC 7 provided further insights into the experimental AI Jesus installation at Peter’s Chapel. According to their report, visitors were invited to step into a confessional booth, where they were greeted by a small sign which guided them to wait until a green light signaled their turn to speak. Behind a lattice screen, the “AI Jesus” appeared on a computer screen, ready to respond once the light turned red. Due to the technical nature of the setup, there was often a brief delay in responses.

Philipp Haslbauer, an IT specialist at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, was responsible for the technical side of the project. He explained that the AI’s responses were powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, while speech recognition was handled by an open-source version of Whisper. To create the visual and auditory elements of the artificial Jesus image, a video generator from Heygen was used to produce the voice and image based on a real person. Haslbauer noted that no specific safeguards were put in place, as they observed GPT-4 to handle controversial topics relatively well. After participants interacted with the AI heavenly father, nearly 300 visitors completed questionnaires, which contributed to a report released on Nov. 27.

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Beyond Bizarre noted that the “Deus in Machina” exhibit, which ran for two months starting in late August, saw nearly 900 conversations with visitors—some returning multiple times. These interactions were anonymously transcribed and analyzed. According to the project team, the experiment was largely a success, with many visitors reporting feeling moved or deeply reflective after their session, and finding the process easy to navigate.

While two-thirds of users reported having a spiritual experience, some found the AI’s responses profound, while others were less impressed, likening it to a fortune cookie or social media banter. Despite the project’s success in engaging over 1,000 visitors, it has sparked ethical concerns—especially within the Catholic and Protestant communities in Lucerne—and the Peters Chapel team ultimately decided that AI Jesus would not become a permanent fixture. However, experts see the potential for AI Jesus as a 24/7 spiritual guide for people who are too busy or introverted to visit a priest in the near future. 

Would you like to see AI implemented at your church? Tell us in the comments section. 

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