Artificial Intelligence in a Christian Perspective of Humanity and Personhood

Abstract

This article examines the notion of humanity and personhood in Artificial Intelligence (AI) from the Christian perspective. In general view, humanity is the human race collectively, while personhood is the state or fact of being a person, while for the Christian, personhood is an exhibition of the unity of the spiritual and corporeal in human existence that represents an essential characteristic of a human being. The concept is rooted in the Book of Genesis chapters one and two where God created man in His Image (Imago Dei) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. AI on the other hand is a machine, but not a mere machine, since it has a purpose like a human being and also can evolve autonomously and unimaginably when it plugs into a network. Realizing this fact leaves a question of whether AI could hypothetically have personhood in the future, or if it already has since the beginning of its creation, even if it is only a minimal version of personhood. This exploration shows criteria of minimal personhood qualities equal to humanity according to the Christian perspective, through the literature study of the church fathers' writings about the body, soul, free-will, and the possibility of the personhood of AI. From the Christian perspective, the current available AIs do not meet the minimal criteria of personhood. If hypothetically there will be an AI that can meet a few of the criteria, the Christian perspective sees that AI cannot supersede the image of God in which human beings are created.