Attribution of Religious Characteristics to AI: A Critical Exploration
RELIGION AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATION VOLUME 21, NO. 2 (2023)
ISSN 1686-9184
Author
Gnana Patrick
Abstract
Today we find a number of attributions of religious characteristics to AI. In usages like “apocalyptic AI,” “homo deus,” “AI as Imago Dei,” “virtual immortality,” etc., we find religious characteristics being attributed to AI related processes. It would do well to critically analyse such attributes from the perspective of religious studies to understand their impact upon the dynamics of religions. One such core dynamic, acknowledged invariably in religious and theological studies, is that of the experience of “transcendence.” Several studies on religious transcendence analyse its “vertical” and “horizontal” aspects down through historical epochs. The modern era, in particular, is understood to have induced various shades of immanentism, along with an inability to transcendence. This paper studies some selected religious attributes made to AI and analyse their impact upon the experience of transcendence today.
Keywords
apocalyptic AI, homo deus, virtual immortality, AI as Imago Dei, transcendence
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PAGES: 247-269
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62461/GNP100423
Submitted: September 29, 2023; Accepted: October 4, 2023; Published: December 31, 2023
