AI Jesus hologram to take confessionals in Swiss church - but not everyone's convinced

A church in Switzerland using an artificial intelligence-generated Jesus hologram to take confessionals is facing backlash online.

The “experimental art installation” was introduced by a church in Lucerne and allows people to interact with a hologram that has been trained to imitate Christ.

It has been called 'Deus in Machina' (which translates to “God in Machine”) and was installed in St. Peter's Chapel, the oldest Catholic church in Lucerne.

The parish explained the idea was conceived by Philipp Haslbauer and Aljosa Smolic from the Immersive Realities Center at Hochschule Luzern, alongside Marco Schmid, who is a theologian at the parish.

It has been placed inside one of the church’s confessionals and displays a hologram of Jesus, which reportedly addresses users with the words, “peace be with you, brother” and urges them to talk about, “whatever is troubling your heart today”. It can also speak 100 different languages.

Schmid told Swissinfo the AI program was trained using sacred scripture and theological texts from the internet. He claimed “in all previous tests, his answers have matched the theological view of St Peter’s church”.

A clip posted on social media drew a mixed reaction from people who couldn’t decide if it was a great idea or very offensive.

“No no no no no. (Father, forgive me but these people are morons….),” someone argued.

One person wrote: “Idk if this is sacrilegious or really cool.”

Another asked: “I'm very not religious but isn't this very against the teachings?”

“If it helps and people using don't mind then don’t see an issue. Christianity stepping further into the digital age,” one person said.

Someone else joked: “If you notice I’m gone for a few days, and then hear about a fire in a church in Switzerland, I certainly had nothing to do with it.”

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