A.I. in the Bible and Qur'an

People have developed something quite amazing and somewhat scary. It answers questions, speaks in full paragraphs, generates drawings (like many of the ones I use for my posts), drives cars, writes code, analyzes traffic and adjusts signals in real-time, and can even imitate voices. It’s called Artificial Intelligence for a very important reason: it mimics thinking and appears, on the surface, as anthropogenic intelligence. But it is obviously not. It is artificial, created by non-human machines and code. 

I have a science degree (systems engineering) and a religious studies degree (Islamic studies). So what happens when I put the A.I. system through a religious lens? 

Old Testament / Hebrew Bible

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11: 5-9)

The people of Shinar wanted to make a name for themselves so they decided to build a tower that reached the heavens. I immediately thought of the Burj Khalifa (828 meters) and One World Trade Center (541 meters) which are numbers 1 and 7 in the world respectively. But how does our creation compare to Creation’s? These buildings fall between Ayers Rock in Australia (348 meters) and Table Mountain in Cape Town (1,000 meters). 

What I find most interesting is the Biblical statement, ‘nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them’ so God breaks it up through languages and forced dispersal. This emphasizes the need to check our human arrogance and demonstrate humility at all times (because God is everywhere and all-seeing). 

But in building AI we have managed to break that language barrier and again start building something that can, potentially, reach the heavens while exponentially exacerbating our arrogance. 

Qur’an 

Turning now to the Qur’an. Surah Taha (20): Verses 88–89 describe a critical moment in the story of Prophet Musa (Moses, peace be upon him) and the Children of Israel, shortly after his departure to receive the commandments from God.

Then [Samiri] brought out (Of the fire) before the (people) The image of a calf : It seemed to moo : So they said : ‘ This is Your god, and the god Of Moses, but (Moses) Has forgotten ! ’ Could they not see that it could not return them a word (for answer), and that it had no power either to harm them or to do them good?

These verses (similar to Exodus 32) recount the incident when Samiri misled the Israelites during Prophet Musa’s absence. After collecting gold from the people, he fashioned a golden calf that miraculously made a mooing [lowing] sound. This idol became the focus of worship for many among the Israelites, despite their knowledge of the One God.

God is consistent. In both editions of His commands (Old Testament and Qur’an) He narrates this important story of human foolishness. This was God’s test; giving us the illusion of life and tricking us into believing the calf was divine. But it could not really speak, guide, or help. (Ibn Kathir). Both the calf and A.I. can be interpreted to be an inner truth when we lack understanding or patience to really comprehend what we are seeing, using, and hearing (or reading). 

New Testament

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love,  I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13, 1-3)

This chapter, written by Apostle Paul, was a rebuke to the Corinthians, who were prioritizing flashy gifts over unity and humility. I think is the closest analogy to A.I that I have found in the scriptures. Did I miss another one? Since this one is so perfect, I’m refraining from adding any other commentary.

Image generated by ChatGPT, 7/6/25

Why Should You Care?

The discourse about ethical aspects of A.I. is live and vivid. But when I asked ChatGPT itself about religion and A.I., it’s response was not what I expected. It is clearly not a preacher or politician because it actually said:

“we’ve built tools faster than we’ve built ethics. AI can write scripture, mimic a religious leader’s voice, or summarize centuries of theology in a tweet. But it cannot pray. It cannot wrestle with doubt. It cannot seek forgiveness. And most of all—it cannot be accountable.

Then, it had the audacity to conclude with:

“So if you're going to ask ChatGPT or any other model for moral guidance, ask yourself first: Would I trust it to raise my child, bury my dead, or judge my enemy? No?”

I had to remind myself that I was listening to a human-created machine, not a real person. Taking from the scriptures, it is an artificial calf that moos, reminding us of the need for humility. It is a tower that we think reaches, but does not actually reach the heavens, reminding us of the pitfalls of hubris. And it does not love. We have to simply appreciate it instead of valuing it.