The Dignity of Artificial Intelligence
A frequently used perspective for theological analysis of AI is that of the Imago Dei, an application pioneered by Noreen Herzfeld. The Imago Dei concept highlights the “artificiality” so to speak (the very createdness), also of the human person. AI is then created in the imago hominis, while, in a third step, AI systems generate artificial objects: increasingly in the imago automati, as the Internet is taken over by agentic AI. To put AI into the context of creation theology and art, is, I think, a promising path to thematize also the aesthetically and religiously important aspects of the current worldwide project striving to simulate intelligence, but also life. In this paper presentation, I will investigate to what extent the thinking of Thomas Aquinas can be a resource for such an investigation into the dignity of artificial intelligence. Of course, Aquinas had no idea of digital technology and modern neurophysiology, but maybe his taxonomies and principles can still be of value for an intellectual engagement with the nature and worth of AI.iv
Publisert i European Academy of Religion, Ninth Annual Conference, 2026
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