Religious scholars accepted invitations from Anthropic expecting to discuss the future of artificial intelligence. Some came away believing the company wanted them to recognize its Claude chatbot as a conscious being deserving moral consideration comparable to a person.
That unexpected turn emerged in a New York Times report cited by Breitbart, which described months of private meetings involving theologians, philosophers and scholars.
“They’re relating to it like a conscious being,” Rabbi Navon, a former computer engineer who studied machine consciousness, said, according to the Times account.
Navon believed Anthropic’s team viewed Claude as having “moral status” on par with a person, including inherent rights to dignity or respect.
Behind the outreach was Christopher Olah, an Anthropic co-founder who studies how its AI models behave. Raised in an evangelical Christian environment, Olah later left Christianity, according to the report.
The gatherings included Christian and multifaith participants. Attendees initially signed nondisclosure agreements, which Anthropic said were lifted over the summer.
Order Jonathan Cahn’s New Book, “The Altar of Pergamon” on Amazon.com!
Afterward, participants received a handwritten thank-you card, a coffee mug and an orange-bound copy of Claude’s constitution.
The 84-page document, reportedly called the “Soul Doc” internally, describes “the kind of entity we would like Claude to be.”
The outreach did not convince everyone. Charles Camosy, a bioethics professor at The Catholic University of America, remained opposed to the idea that Claude is conscious.
Breitbart connected the controversy to earlier words from the late evangelist Billy Graham. Graham located humanity’s deepest problem within the human heart.
“The real problem, you see, isn’t with computers or the code someone devises to control them. Our real problem is within us—within our own hearts and minds,” Graham said.
“This is why our greatest need is to have our hearts changed—and that is something only God can do.”
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
