Does Self-Aware AI Possess a Soul?
How AI robotics might change religion
Experts in Artificial Intelligence seem convinced that it’s only a matter of time before we create a self-aware AI that thinks like a human. If we achieve that milestone, then religious leaders will be confronted with the question: does a self-aware computer have a soul?
What is a “soul” anyway?
That may sound like a ridiculous question on its face, but stop and consider the nature of a “soul.” Mike McHargue, author of Finding God in the Waves and a popular podcaster and vlogger, explains:
“We’ve understood [the soul] to be some non-physical essence of an individual that’s not dependent upon or tied to their body. Would AI have a soul by that definition?”
If the soul is a “non-physical essence” separate from the body, then the sould does not reside (solely) in the body. Why couldn’t an AI consciousness have a soul?
Consider the question from another angle. Human cloning raises alarm bells because of concerns about exploiting physical copies of other humans. Why do we worry about exploiting clones? They’re “just copies,” after all, not the original.
We worry about exploiting human clones because we regard a physical human, even a duplicate, as possessing…
