“Some of the voting results really surprised me”: This interactive theater show in Munich served as a live experiment for TUM on the moral responsibility of AI

Save

Share

Lina Welsch

 ·  June 11, 2026

Who bears responsibility when artificial intelligence makes serious mistakes? Armed with precisely this burning question, the MoralPLai research team from the Technical University of Munich ventured into the heart of the city in June 2025 to conduct a fascinating live experiment. The scientists left their academic labs and mingled with the audience of the interactive theater show The Jury Experience at Munich’s Kolpinghaus. Their goal: to observe how ordinary citizens assign responsibility in moral gray areas when complex technologies and AI are involved.

But what exactly is behind this event? The Jury Experience transforms the Kolpinghaus conference center near the main train station into a realistic courtroom for its participants. For 60–75 minutes, visitors step into the role of jurors in a fictional trial, guided through a gripping courtroom drama by professional actors playing lawyers, witnesses, and defendants. The audience must analyze evidence and ultimately vote together on the verdict. An immersive spectacle that brings moral dilemmas to life.

When AI is in the dock

Last year, the experiment focused on a highly topical scenario: Who bears responsibility when a self-driving car is involved in an accident? The manufacturer, the software developer, the regulatory authorities, the passenger, or even the vehicle itself? The MoralPLai team investigated how instinctively people assign blame when algorithms are involved and gained some interesting insights into how our society operates when technology raises moral questions.

Even though the fate of a real person was not being decided here, of course, the interactive event definitely provided interesting topics for discussion and proved to be a suitable field lab for the TUM team. Although the AI case mentioned is no longer on the schedule for The Jury Experience in Munich, anyone who wants to experience the popular courtroom drama for themselves can currently put their sense of justice to the test in two new gripping cases involving a spectacular diamond heist and a mysterious death on a speedboat .