Mohammad Amin Torabi; Masoumeh Sahraei
Abstract
AbstractThroughout history, one of the greatest intellectual and philosophical challenges humanities has faced is the question of the existence of God. With technological advancements and the emergence of artificial intelligence, an opportunity has now arisen to approach this question from a new angle, ...
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AbstractThroughout history, one of the greatest intellectual and philosophical challenges humanities has faced is the question of the existence of God. With technological advancements and the emergence of artificial intelligence, an opportunity has now arisen to approach this question from a new angle, utilizing the advanced capabilities of artificial intelligence. The research methodology of this study is applied in terms of its purpose and exploratory (simulation) in nature. In the first phase, it continued with responses from the intelligent system ChatGPT until reaching the saturation point of answers. In the second phase, using thematic analysis, each of the responses was semantically coded and placed in common themes. The findings were categorized and interpreted in four sections: philosophical, religious, perceptual, and scientific. The results indicate that, from a philosophical perspective, artificial intelligence has the capability to contemplate the concept of the existence of God. Religiously, it analyzes and interprets religious texts and concepts with precision. Perceptually, it has the ability to understand and recognize various types of experiences, feelings, and thoughtful reflections on God, analyzing and reconstructing these perception ns based on existing patterns in the data. Scientifically, it precisely presents the intersections and scientific relationships regarding existence and creation, exploration, and ultimate results.Keywords: Philosophy of God’s Existence, Proof of God’s Existence, Artificial Intelligence and God, ChatGPT Extended AbstractIntroductionThe concept of God has played a central role in shaping human civilization, whether through religious practice, ethical frameworks, or existential contemplation. Believers often argue that acknowledging a higher power confers meaning and moral direction, while skeptics challenge the coherence or necessity of such a being. Technological breakthroughs in AI now present an unprecedented opportunity to re-examine and synthesize the vast corpus of human thought around God’s existence. Specifically, ChatGPT draws upon extensive datasets encompassing philosophy, theology, history, and science, enabling the creation of structured, comprehensive answers to questions that have occupied thinkers for centuries. Yet the question remains: Does AI shed new light on the debate, or merely reorganize existing ideas? This research addresses that query by documenting ChatGPT’s responses to systematically designed prompts about God’s existence, scrutinizing the arguments produced, and evaluating how these align with or differ from traditional scholarly discourse.Materials & MethodsWe adopted an exploratory, simulation-based methodology, divided into two phases. In the first phase, a series of questions—probing both the affirmative and negative positions on God’s existence—were posed to ChatGPT in iterative rounds. The process continued until thematic saturation was verified by a panel of ten experts in philosophy, theology, and cognitive science who reviewed each AI-generated response for novelty and consistency. Once the experts deemed that no substantially new themes emerged, the data was consolidated for analysis. In the second phase, we conducted a thematic coding of the AI’s answers, labeling distinct arguments, examples, and references to philosophical and religious traditions. This coding was subjected to peer validation, ensuring that at least 70% of the experts agreed on the classification of each theme. The final dataset was then arranged into four major categories—philosophical, religious, perceptual, and scientific—and subsequently evaluated to illustrate the depth and range of AI-generated content on God’s existence.Discussion & ResultThe analysis demonstrates that ChatGPT consistently reproduces a broad array of arguments commonly found in classical philosophy, including cosmological reasoning positing a first cause, teleological claims highlighting design in nature, and moral arguments linking ethical absolutes to a divine lawgiver. Additionally, the AI presents counterpoints such as the problem of evil, the apparent redundancy of God in scientific explanations, and the diversity of religious traditions as challenges to the notion of a singular, all-powerful deity. On religious themes, the data indicates that ChatGPT can summarize doctrinal perspectives from multiple faiths, addressing concepts of God as Creator, the role of prophets, and scriptural evidence for and against the existence of a supreme being. In the perceptual domain, ChatGPT highlights personal experiences, crisis moments, and a search for spiritual fulfillment as important influences on belief in God. This includes references to cultural and social cohesion, as well as the psychological comfort that believers often derive from trusting a higher power. From a scientific standpoint, ChatGPT integrates ideas from physics, cosmology, and evolutionary biology, noting that while empirical methods can describe how reality operates, they often remain silent on why reality exists in the first place. Significantly, the AI model remains neutral, clarifying that its responses are drawn from comprehensive but ultimately human-authored sources. This neutrality underscores that any final judgment on God’s existence transcends purely algorithmic logic or data-driven aggregation of viewpoints. The result is an instructive illustration of AI’s ability to amalgamate disparate strands of intellectual tradition while reminding us that existential and spiritual truths may extend beyond the realm of computational discovery.Conclusion In summary, this research reveals that AI, particularly ChatGPT, provides valuable insights into the longstanding debate on God’s existence by assembling and articulating a wide range of arguments gleaned from philosophical texts, religious doctrines, and scientific hypotheses. The thematic diversity detected in the AI’s output illustrates both the richness of human reflection on God and the limitations of seeking absolute certainty through computational means. While ChatGPT can serve as a powerful tool for scholars and students to explore the landscape of arguments around divinity, it does not claim to resolve ultimate metaphysical queries. The study underscores the reality that questions of faith, transcendence, and meaning remain intimately personal and may resist definitive resolution by purely data-driven, logical processes. Rather, AI’s role may best be viewed as a catalyst for deeper inquiry, prompting renewed reflection and dialogue. Future research could refine AI’s capacity to contextualize theological arguments and incorporate more nuanced cultural or linguistic subtleties, yet the core insight stands: the final answer on God’s existence likely resides within the lived experience, contemplative reasoning, and open-hearted seeking of each individual.
