AI versus Human: When Atheists Started Believing in the Soul

One of the main arguments that artificial intelligence will never replace humans is that only humans possess a soul. Surprisingly, this idea is also echoed by some self-proclaimed atheists. Has a miracle occurred, and has AI led many to believe in God?

There is no contradiction between science and faith. This is evidenced by achievements in quantum physics. In the 20th century, it was discovered that the universe is expanding. About 14 billion years ago, it was condensed to a point where galaxies were very close together, in a place where light could not reach. The universe had a beginning and will have an end, as matter disperses very quickly. The string theory goes even further, suggesting the existence of an intelligent design behind the universe’s complexity, observable in many aspects of nature and cosmology.

Today, some atheists argue that unlike humans, AI lacks a soul. Algorithms, they say, lack human creativity, empathy, emotions, sensitivity, and the capacity for abstract thinking. Therefore, they will never be able to threaten humanity’s position.

These views resonate louder as we increasingly hear about job reductions due to the implementation of AI-based solutions. This taps into our natural fear of death, in the sense that something close to us, something that sustains us and provides the resources and energy we need to survive—like our jobs—is disappearing.

What is the soul? It’s not the 21.3 grams of mass that leaves the body upon death, as Duncan MacDougall once claimed. It’s something more, something that enables us to create, laugh, and love. It’s something AI will never be capable of, even if we develop superintelligent algorithms capable of solving the world’s most complex problems.

In the Book of Genesis, we read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness’” (Gen. 1:26a). But the concept of the soul was also developed in Greek philosophy. Socrates introduced the concept of the psyche. The soul is the “self” of a person. Plato considered it the essence of the person, Aristotle the essence of being. St. Thomas Aquinas even argued that everything alive has a soul, including plants and animals. Descartes believed the soul governs the body, as did Schopenhauer. Only the ideologies of the New Left and the Frankfurt School denied its existence, bringing suffering through totalitarianism and world wars.

Today, in a world dominated by new technologies, we are increasingly open to discussing the soul again—what separates us from machines. And that’s a good thing. Perhaps this will make it easier to control these technologies and program them to serve humanity, rather than pull it down.