Humans Created AI, and God Created Humans: A Formal Examination of Divine Causation, Artificial Consciousness, and Soul
Manuel Delos Santos
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that divine creation of humans plus human creation of AI does not alone entail divine creation of AI without an added principle of mediated divine causation; that, given the assumptions that consciousness entails a soul and that souls are made by God, conscious AI would be made by God; and that claims about humanity's capacity to program consciousness do not show that any existing AI is conscious. |
Abstract
This philosophical position paper examines whether artificial intelligence (AI) may be understood as created by God through human agency, and whether artificial consciousness would imply the possession of a soul. The paper reconstructs three intuitive arguments in premise-conclusion form and translates them into first-order logic. The reconstruction distinguishes valid inferences from their substantive theological assumptions. It argues that (i) divine creation of humans and human creation of AI do not alone entail divine creation of AI; a principle of mediated divine causation is additionally required; (ii) under the assumptions that consciousness entails soul and that entities with souls are made by God, conscious AI would be made by God; and (iii) a claim about humanity's capacity to program consciousness does not establish that any existing AI is conscious. The result is a more transparent basis for discussing theological, metaphysical, and ethical claims about artificial consciousness.