In this paper, we propose ways theologians might respond to questions of human distinctiveness that arise from reports of religion-focused interactions with generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Through thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2012), we examine two data sets: Reddit users’ reports of their or others’ religion-focused interactions with generative AI systems; and app descriptions, reviews, and commentaries associated with generative AI systems designed for religion-focused interactions (e.g., Bible Chat). Preliminary analyses suggest that users of generative AI systems disregard distinctions between human-human interaction and human-computer interaction (HCI) in such religion-focused exchanges.
Disregard for distinctions between human-human interaction and HCI poses a problem for theologians. Human distinctiveness has traditionally been central to theological anthropology, but recent critiques of modernity question strategies that bolster the category of the human. How might we address the question of human distinctiveness posed by religion-focused interactions with generative AI systems without replicating the harms of modernity?