AI: material souls, machine minds, or manufactured mendacities? A Theological and Metaphysical Appraisal of the (Im)possibility of AI Consciousness

When does an AI stop being simply a tool or machine to begin to be something more than mere machine, or is being anything more than that impossible? Consequently, this paper explores the question of the nature of AI from a theological and metaphysical perspective, while also addressing key epistemological issues. It will lay out the groundwork work of the technical details and show how those details do not necessarily prohibit the possibility of AGI, and thus theoretically possibility of an AI that is alive or conscious, perhaps even personal. It will then explore the question of AI as material souls and machine minds. This will leads to the formulation of a theologically robust Turing test, before finally turning to the question of humanity and the image of God to answer the question of whether AI is destined to be a manufactured mendicity or something more.