Can AI Ever Be Conscious?

 Can AI ever be conscious?

That's a theological question.

If consciousness is purely a product of natural physical laws (chemistry, electromagnetism, etc), then of course AI can eventually be conscious.

If consciousness is endowed as a supernatural quality by God into beings, then it depends on God doing it.

If God *CAN* do it (and given that he obviously does do it for carbon-based beings who begin as man-made laboratory constructs, such as IVF babies), then will He do it for silicon-based beings who begin as man-made laboratory constructs (PCs)?

Or, to rephrase the question, to what extent does God allow human beings share in His own creative power?

So, the question may appear to be a straight physics question, and it might well be, but theists will extend the question into their own discipline. The answer is not necessarily a proof for the existence of God, but it is a commentary on how God exists.