Deus in Machina was an art installation combining art, religion and AI. An AI avatar took on the role of Jesus Christ and interacted with people in a church within the confessional booth.

The installation ran from September to October 2024.

I built the system in my role as a master’s assistant and student at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU). The project was a collaboration between the university and the Catholic community church Peterskapelle (Peter’s Chapel) in Lucerne, Switzerland.

This project spread around the world like fire and was featured in many news outlets.

I chose the way the system interacts with people, basing my decisions on literature on pastoral psychology and my assumptions on how to keep a dialogue going. (The AI is isntructed to ask counter questions). My face, voice, and mannerisms were used to create the AI avatar.

We held a church service together with AI Jesus.

AI Jesus speaking in the church service in the Peterskapelle

I wrote my master thesis on the system. Over the course of the thesis I conducted a user study to evaluate how people react to a spiritual AI.

Links

• Deus in Machina at HSLU
• Deus in Machina at Peterskapelle

On the Media

• Article by The Guardian
• Video by Associated Press
• Your Own Personal AI Jesus - Reference to Deus in Machina on the Late Night Show With Stephen Colbert