Can AI Ever Be Human?

Name: Can AI Ever Be Human?
Price: 55.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780813240862

Consciousness Explored

Steven Umbrello, Paul O'Hara

$55.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

The Catholic University of America Press
31 March 2026

Philosophy of religion; Religion & science; Christianity; Artificial intelligence

Can a machine ever truly be human? In an age where artificial intelligence writes poems, diagnoses illnesses, and converses with uncanny fluency, the line between human and machine seems to blur. Yet beneath the surface lies a fundamental distinction. Drawing on Bernard Lonergan’s insights as well as the rich Catholic intellectual tradition, Can AI Ever Be Human? argues that while machines can simulate aspects of human behavior, they cannot cross the threshold into genuine consciousness.

O’Hara and Umbrello guide readers through the essential structures of human knowing: experience, understanding, judgment, and decision. In doing so, they show how each involves intentionality, self-awareness, and freedom. These uniquely human capacities cannot be reduced to algorithms or replicated by even the most advanced neural networks.

The book also addresses pressing ethical and theological questions: What does it mean to be made in the image of God? How do we preserve human dignity in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence? Far from being anti-technology, O’Hara and Umbrello affirm the value of AI as a tool that emulates a Turing machine, although constrained by Gödel’s theorem, while rejecting the illusion that it can replace human beings.

Accessible yet rigorous, Can AI Ever Be Human? speaks to scholars, students, clergy, and general readers alike. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, scientific methodology, philosophy, and theology, and for all who seek to understand what makes us irreducibly human in an era of rapid technological change.

By: Steven Umbrello, Paul O'Hara
Imprint: The Catholic University of America Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780813240862
ISBN 10: 0813240867
Pages: 232
Publication Date: 31 March 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Paul O' Hara is a professor of ontology and scientific rationality at Sophia University, Italy. Steven Umbrello is Managing Director at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.