Synthetic emotions and the imago Dei

Abstract

The robots are coming. Turn on the television and you will see series like Humans or Westworld where human-like robots turn on their creators. Read the newspaper and you will see headlines about robots taking our jobs or holding beauty contests for people. In one case an intelligent robot that remembers and learns was even reported to have escaped from its home laboratory on more than one occasion (Wajeeha, 2016). Serious scientists such as Stephen Hawking and the astronomer royal Martin Rees are joined by industry leaders like Bill Gates and Elon Musk in talking about artificial intelligence developing so quickly that it will take over from humans (Hawking, 2014). Recent developments in the use of large language models for generative conversational systems such as ChatGPT have led to speculation that sentient machines are already here. Some even talk of this being the next step in evolution on Earth, and we humans will become as extinct as the dinosaurs as computers take over. What is the proper Christian response to these questions? As ever, we must turn to the Bible for guidance.