AI can run a church service or it might end the world. But it can’t replicate God’s divine love

As a consortium of AI experts warn of the risk of human extinction at the hands of AI, hundreds attended a church service in Germany generated and hosted by ChatGPT. How should Christians view such things, asks George Pitcher? Can we find a theology of AI?

The famous old saying about a computer playing chess is that it doesn’t care if it loses. Or if it wins, for that matter.

This observation is meant to distinguish the fundamental difference between the human mind and computer science. A computer never brings emotion to the party. If, in a not so distant future, we watch android footballers play a cup final to athletic perfection, there will be no tears of joy or sorrow at the final whistle.

Or, if there are, they will be artificially generated tears – and the same goes for the watching crowd, whether it’s made up of humans or robots. It’ll be hard to get worked up about a 90th-minute winner if it’s scored by superior software.