What Does It Mean to Be Human in the Age of AI? | Noreen Herzfeld

Artificial intelligence is everywhere — but what does it mean for us as humans, as embodied creatures, and as people of faith? In this episode of The UpWords Podcast, host Dan Johnson sits down with Noreen Herzfeld, a computer scientist turned theologian who has been thinking seriously about AI and humanity since the 1980s. Together they explore why we are driven to create AI in our own image, what Christian theology says about embodiment and relationship, and why the church should be cautious about AI.WHAT YOU WILL LEARNWhy humans are compelled to create AI in their own image — and what that reveals about usHow the Imago Dei (image of God) shifts from intellect to relationship in 20th-century theology — and why it matters for AIWhat Christianity's strong theology of embodiment means in a world increasingly dominated by language and the cloudWhy AI chatbot "relationships" are fundamentally different from — and inferior to — human relationshipsWhere AI has real, appropriate uses (narrow, domain-specific tools like AlphaFold) and where it falls dangerously shortWhy Noreen sees limited good use for AI in ministry — and significant risks in pastoral care and counseling settingsHow large language models differ fundamentally from earlier AI — and why they hallucinateThe collision course between AI energy consumption and climate changeWhy Noreen would advise most people: don't use it at allGUEST BIONoreen Herzfeld is one of the rare scholars who holds advanced degrees in both computer science and Christian theology. She earned her M.S. and M.A. from Penn State, took a sabbatical to study why humans want to build AI in our image, and ended up earning a Ph.D. in Theology from the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. She has been teaching and writing at the intersection of technology and faith for over two decades. Her books include In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit (Fortress, 2002), Technology and Religion: Remaining Human in a Co-Created World (Templeton, 2009), and The Artifice of Intelligence: Divine and Human Relationship in a Robotic World (Fortress, 2023). She also directs the Benedictine Spirituality and Ecotheology Program at St. John's School of Theology and Seminary and is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Philosophical and Religious Studies in Koper, Slovenia.RESOURCES & LINKSNoreen Herzfeld's faculty page: csbsju.edu/sot/person/noreen-herzfeld/In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit — (Fortress Press, 2002)Technology and Religion: Remaining Human in a Co-Created World — (Templeton, 2009)The Artifice of Intelligence: Divine and Human Relationship in a Robotic World — (Fortress, 2023)AlphaFold (DeepMind protein folding AI) — deepmind.google/technologies/alphafoldSherry Turkle, MIT sociologist — referenced in discussion of chatbot relationshipsSend us Fan MailCONNECT WITH USSubscribe to The UpWords Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and visit slbf.org/studio to learn more about our work at the intersection of faith, the academy, and the marketplace.This episode was created by the SLBF STUDIO at Upper House.Produced by Daniel Johnson and Dave ConourEdited by Dave Conour