Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.53745/ro.1.2.4
The Human Being as Imago Dei and Artificial Intelligence
Taras Barščevski
orcid.org/0000-0003-2132-1105
Abstract
This paper offers a critical reflection on the contemporary development and use of artificial intelligence from the perspective of Christian anthropology, grounded in the biblical and theological understanding of the human person as imago Dei. Taking as its point of departure Noreen Herzfeld’s thesis that artificial intelligence seeks to create an “other” in our own image, the paper first shows how contemporary AI systems, especially conversational models, extend beyond mere technical assistance and move into the realm of relationships, trust, and moral guidance. The first chapter examines the normative and anthropological framework of the principal ethical guidelines for “trustworthy AI”, including relevant Church documents, showing that an accentuated anthropocentrism and the reduction of the human being to immanent autonomy complicate the coherent application of these principles and leave unanswered the question concerning the origin and standard of good and evil. In the second chapter, the notion of imago Dei is examined through substantial, functional, and relational interpretations, showing how contemporary approaches to artificial intelligence fluctuate between reason, functionality, and relationality. The third chapter, drawing upon the interpretation of Gen 3:5 and Gen 3:22–24, interprets the dynamic of the “knowledge of good and evil” as an attempt at conformity to God that simultaneously reveals human limitation, the disturbance of fundamental relationships (with God, with others, and with creation), and the inclination to establish a “fourth relationship” in which the human being seeks to become a “god” through technological artefacts of his own making. The paper concludes by proposing that a trustworthy relationship with artificial intelligence presupposes the renewal of the human person as imago Dei, who, following the example of God who “rested from all the work that he had done”, is capable of pausing and directing his creative power towards blessing and sanctification.
Keywords
artificial intelligence; imago Dei; ethical guidelines; anthropocentrism; Book of Genesis 1–3; freedom, relational anthropology; ChatGPT
Hrčak ID:
345626
URI
Publication date:
20.3.2026.
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