AI has been used to find structural vulnerabilities in St Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican City, that are invisible to the naked eye.
A digital twin of the famous Catholic church was created through AI creating an ultra-precise 3D computer model that simulates an object in the physical world.
The project was developed by Microsoft and the Vatican in collaboration with Iconem, a French startup specialising in digital preservation.
It is called La Basilica di San Pietro and involved drones, cameras and lasers being used to take more than 400,000 detailed images to create an exact digital replica of the exterior and interior over a period of three weeks.
AI analysis then identified cracks and fissures invisible to the human eye which will help with restoration work.
It also revealed previously hidden or lost mosaic tiles and uncovered an ornate ceiling.
Vice chair and president of Microsoft Brad Smith said: ‘It is literally one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind that has ever been pursued.’
‘Everyone, really everyone should feel welcome in this great house,’ Pope Francis told Mr Smith and members of the project’s development teams at an audience held on Monday.
He continued: ‘This house of prayer for all peoples has been entrusted to us by those who have preceded us in faith and apostolic ministry.
‘Therefore, it is a gift and a task to care for it, in both a spiritual and material sense, even through the latest technologies.’
The project also allows people who may never visit the Vatican in person to experience the site with the same level of details that in-person visitors can.
Digital twin technology has already been used on other buildings like the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to help with reconstruction efforts after the fire in 2019.
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