AI and the Metaphor of the Divine

Abstract

The idea of God is one of the most pervasive in human culture. It used to be considered mostly in metaphysical and ethical discussions, it has become a part of the discourse in the philosophy of technology. The metaphor of God is used by some authors to represent the role of artificial intelligence in the modern world. This paper explores four aspects of the metaphor: creation, omniscience, mystery, theodicy. The creative act shows the resemblance of humans to God, also in the sense that technology created by humans can get out of the control of the creator. The ability of AI to use data flows for analytics and prediction is considered as “omniscience” which looks mysterious due to the inability of people to intellectually grasp the work of AI. The discussion about building ethics into AI technology shows a desire to add one more feature to “omniscient and omnipotent,” namely “benevolent.” The metaphor of God as applied to AI reveals human fears and aspirations both in rational-pragmatic and symbolic terms. The metaphor of God exposes notions of transcendence in modern perceptions of technology. Also it continues the discussion about what should be the technological design of AI. Whether as co-worker or as communicator it is already putting us on a path towards thinking of a subject that is constituted in a superior way.