In November 2024, the news dispersed on the Web: the parishioners of one Swiss church from now on are not professed not to the priest, but by the hologram of Jesus Christ, trained on the basis of artificial intelligence (AI). We checked the authenticity of such publications.
On November 20, reports about the innovation in the Church of St. Peter in the Swiss Lucerne began to appear in the media and Telegram channels. It is claimed that the parishioners of this temple of confession now accepts The hologram of Jesus Christ, Working on the basis of AI and speaking in 100 languages. Some publications are accompanied by a 15-second video showing the work of an innovative device.
This news was published on their sites Russian And Ukrainian Media, as well as Telegram channels "RT in Russian"(242,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Dmitry Vasilet"(161 000),"Barrel of black caviar"(160,000),"Militarist"(110 000),"Tina Kandelaki"(51 000),"Komsomolskaya Pravda: kp.ru"(50,000) and others.
Holographic Jesus, working on the basis of neural networks, really appeared This year, in the oldest Catholic Church of the Swiss city of Lucerne, the chapel of St. Peter. As part of the DEUS in Machina project, an avatar of Christ was installed in the cabin for confession, which is capable of conducting a dialogue in 100 languages. He Meet The parishioners with the words “peace to you, brother”, after which they were invited to share their thoughts or ask questions. The avatar, trained on the texts of the Holy Scriptures and other theological sources, answered in real time.
Resources that spread the news about the hologram of Jesus, writeThat it was established by decision of the church itself and that now parishioners confess AI, not a priest. Although the equipment was actually placed inside confessional, the authors of the project called its artistic installation. Deus in Machina is a joint Art project The chapel of St. Peter, the Laboratory of Immersive Reality of the University of Lucerns of Applied Sciences (HSLU) and the faculty of pastoral theology of Lucerne University. Implementation of the initiative Supered On the 100th anniversary of the Swiss Society of St. Luke, which advocates dialogue between artists and the church. In honor of the anniversary, such promotions took place in 30 different churches throughout the country. In addition to Deus in Machina, artists installed other installations as part of the project: for example, they hung their paintings in the cathedrals, dedicated to forced emigration due to war or environmental problems. A hologram of Jesus From viral publications, the authors believe, forces to think about the boundaries of the use of technologies in the context of religion.
The video accompanied by some notes on the avatar of Jesus is genuine. November 20 it Published On its website, the British tabloid Daily Mail - the editorial office received a video from Melanie Daller From HSLU. “The Church in Switzerland uses the hologram of Jesus with AI for confession,” says the heading of notes.
The publication of the Daily Mail served as a source of many Russian -speaking resources that talked about the replacement of the priest of AI. However, the title used by the tabloid is incorrect. The authors of Deus in Machina directly say that their project, although there was Designed Together with the theologian, Marco Schmidt, was never intended to replace the clergy. Each visitor to the chapel of St. Peter, who wished to talk to the hologram, previously warnedSo that he does not share his personal information, and also demanded that he understands the program limitations of the project. Schmidt also explained that the conversation with the avatar does not imitate confession and does not replace it: while the hologram was functioning, representatives of various religions and atheists managed to talk to her. After the Deus in Machina project ended On October 20, St. Peter's chapel refused to leave the hologram, fearing excessive responsibility for the statements of AI. Many Russian and foreign media did not mention this in their notes.
Another source, often quoted in Russian -speaking publications, is material Disclose.tv portal. The authors of the publication did not specify that the project was artistic in nature, and the hologram was not intended to replace the priest with confession. In addition, Disclose.TV is a German disinformation resource that promotes conspiracy theories and fake news. Website, created In 2007, as a forum for discussing UFOs and paranormal phenomena, since 2021 he positioned itself as a news aggregator, but continues to disseminate the misleading information.
In an interview USA Today Professor of theology of the American University of Notre Dame Ulrich Lener emphasized that laws The confession should be held personally in the presence of the priest. He noted that the idea of virtual confession was discussed earlier, but each time was rejected by the Vatican. For example, in the first months of the Covid-19 pandemia, when it was necessary to observe social distance, scientists and church figures actively discussed the possibility of conducting confession through Zoom or similar platforms, but came to conclusionthat video calls can violate the sacrament of repentance and therefore are unacceptable. As a result, the church began to look for alternative methods, including Confession inside the car.
Thus, in the Swiss church this year, the hologram of Jesus, which worked on the basis of neural networks and communicated with parishioners, was really installed this year, but it was not intended for confession. It was an experimental art project, which functioned in only one temple for two months.
Photo on the cover: social networks
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