A small church in Lucerne, Switzerland, which has been known as the oldest church in the city has accomplished a remarkable feat.
As per The Guardian, the church unveiled an AI-powered Jesus that can be able to converse in 100 different languages.
Marco Schmid, a theologian with the church said, “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.”
The installation known as Deus in Machina was launched in August. After experimenting with virtual and augmented reality, the church decided to install an avatar.
Schmid said, “We had a discussion about what kind of avatar it would be – a theologian, a person or a saint? But then we realised the best figure would be Jesus himself.”
With limited space and a need for spot where people could have private conversations with the avatar, the church replaced its priest with a computer and cables in the confessional booth.
After training the AI on theological texts, visitors were invited to ask questions to a long-haired image of Jesus displayed on a latticework screen.
As he provides real-time answers, all these are generated by artificial intelligence.
Throughout the two-month experiment, over 1,000 people, including Muslims and tourists from countries like China and Vietnam, took the chance to engage with the avatar.
In the meantime, visitors were adviced not to share personal information and were reminded that they were interacting with the avatar at their own risk.
