14 - #Trending on Social Media

Hannah Diffee

Professor Reppert

Reporting and Writing for the Mass Media

Fall 2024

14 - #Trending on Social Media

'AI Jesus' hears Catholic confessions

A Swiss art exhibit allowed churchgoers to speak to a virtual rendition of Jesus Christ. In September, St. Peter's Chapel, a Catholic church in Lucerne, Switzerland, introduced an interactive exhibit titled "Deus in Machina"--God in the Machine. The exhibit featured a confessional booth with a lattice screen, behind which a digital Jesus avatar was displayed. Worshippers could speak with the avatar to receive scripturally-based responses.

Photo Credit: New York Post

Before worshippers entered the booth, the avatar cautioned them against sharing private information. “Do not disclose personal information under any circumstances, use this service at your own risk, press the button if you accept.” After they agreed, a green light at the base of the lattice screen signaled when it was their time to confess. A red light turned on when AI Jesus was answering. 2/3 of users of the artificial confessional reported having a 'spiritual experience,' while the remaining 1/3 saw it as merely a 'gimmick.' 

One participant remarked:

“I was surprised, it was so easy. And though it’s a machine, it gave me so much advice. Also, from a Christian point of view, I felt taken care of and I walked out really consoled.”

In the booth, robo-Jesus answered questions about feelings of loneliness, the afterlife, homosexuality, the role of women in the Catholic Church, suffering, and the existence of God (The Christian Broadcasting Network). 

AI Jesus even had the chance to participate in a worship service at St. Peter's Chapel.

The exhibit, a partnership between religious leaders and researchers, aimed to spark conversations about the role of artificial intelligence in religion and "explore the limits of human trust in a machine" (AP News). Philipp Haslbauer, the technical brains behind the project, used the OpenAI GPT-4o model to generate responses and an open-source version of the OpenAI Whisper model for speech recognition. He used an AI video generator from HeyGen to create the voice and video for the virtual son of God. According to his website, Haslbauer used his voice, face, and mannerisms to develop the avatar.

The AI model can speak more than 100 languages. While most visitors were German speakers, AI Jesus also conversed in Chinese, French, English, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, and Russian and interacted with people from many faith backgrounds. Most visitors were aged 40-70.

The exhibit was open from September 23 to October 20, accompanied by several presentations and events exploring artificial intelligence. The team presented its initial findings on November 27.