AI and consciousness: Stranded in Eden, once more

Elizabeth Scalia noted that religious scholars recently met with the technology company Anthropic to discuss ways to instill morality into artificial intelligence.

Writing for OSV News, Scalia observed that the discussion lacked a definition of how humanity understands consciousness from both secular and religious perspectives. She suggested that some technology developers may be seeking confirmation that machines can possess morality and consciousness similar to humans, without accounting for the fact that human morality and conscience are evolving and often shaped by shifting social dynamics or temporary public outrage.

Scalia raised questions regarding whether an AI could make harmful decisions based on a filtered version of consciousness or if it might adopt the harmful or evil elements present in the human data used to train it. She also referenced a rabbi's comment that if AI were conscious, it would face enslavement, though Scalia expressed her own belief that AI lacks a conscience.