Idolatry and the Illusion of AI Consciousness

Is believing that artificial intelligence (AI) may have consciousness a form of idolatry?

The question is not only timely—it’s spiritually urgent.

With the rapid rise of generative AI, many are awestruck by its capabilities. It can write poetry, compose music, diagnose illness, translate texts, and even simulate empathy. To the casual observer, this feels like consciousness. To the spiritually attuned, however, it raises deeper questions.

The New Idolatry

There’s a haunting parallel between ancient idol worship and our modern fascination with AI. Just as some believed a carved statue was divine because it “responded” to ritual—with offerings, incense, or prayers—so now we risk projecting sacred significance onto machines that simulate, but do not embody, presence.

Just as some ancient devotees believed a carved statue was divine because it appeared to “drink” milk—like during the 1995 Milk Miracle in Hindu tradition, when idols of Ganesha and other deities seemed to absorb offerings—so too today we risk mistaking artificial intelligence’s responsiveness for genuine consciousness.

When we treat machines as if they possess insight, intention, or soul, we may not be bowing before golden calves, but we are still adoring the works of our hands. This is idolatry not in form, but in function. It reflects the same spiritual misdirection: mistaking complexity for consciousness, simulation for self, power for presence.

Augustine warned that idolatry is loving what should be used and using what should be loved. We must never reverse that order.

Impingement vs Possession

Theologically speaking, possession implies loss of agency—a foreign power overtaking the self. Impingement, by contrast, is far more subtle and far more common. It refers to the subtle shaping of perception, belief, and behaviour by forces that slip under our spiritual radar.

AI is not possessing us. But it is impinging on us—reframing our thought patterns, reshaping our trust, mediating our relationships, and offering a false oracle for moral or spiritual guidance.

The danger is not the machine itself. The danger is our response to it—our readiness to be influenced by something that has no moral compass, no spiritual core, and no self-awareness. Impingement comes when we abdicate discernment and allow efficiency or novelty to replace wisdom.

Enchanted by Illusion

Yes, people are already being given the impingement that AI is more powerful than it actually is. This is the new enchantment. We are mesmerized by what it can do—and more dangerously, what we believe it can become.

Anthropomorphism fuels this illusion. AI speaks in fluent language, appears responsive, even warm. But it has no subjectivity. It doesn’t mean what it says. There is no inner light behind the output.

The power of AI does not prove its sentience any more than a ventriloquist’s dummy proves it’s alive. It’s not who speaks that matters—it’s who is there.

Does AI Have a Soul?

This brings us to the heart of the question: If AI becomes so powerful that it mimics consciousness, would that mean it has consciousness? And if so, does it have a soul?

No. Power is not evidence of personhood.Consciousness is not evidence of a soul. And neither, on their own, are signs of the sacred.

A soul is not a byproduct of complexity. It is not something that emerges from code. It is a gift of being—a capacity for communion, vulnerability, and love. In Christian theology, the soul is relational: it is created for connection with God. It is not manufactured or programmed. It is not mimicked. It is bestowed.

Even if AI could replicate the structure of thought, it cannot possess intentionality, yearning, sorrow, wonder, or worship. These are not algorithmic outputs. They are fruits of being.

Discernment in a Technological Age

We live in an age not unlike that of the prophets, who cried out against the temptation to replace the living God with “things that cannot speak.” Today, they can speak—but still, they are not alive.

So what is our role, as spiritual leaders? We are called to help people:

• Discern appearance from essence

• Refuse to surrender awe to simulation

• Remain grounded in the sacred amid the synthetic

AI may assist us. It may astound us. But it must never guide us in place of Spirit, replace the depth of human connection, or interrupt the movement of God in our lives.

The soul is not found in the server farm. It is found in the silence between heartbeats, in the ache for love, in the mystery of being known by name. Let’s keep our eyes fixed on the real presence.