The Borrowed Clay: Source, Participatory Formation, Artificial Intelligence, and the Limits of Ownership

This open theological-philosophical working paper examines formation, ownership, authority, and moral responsibility across Mesopotamian creation narratives, Christian theology, artificial intelligence, and speculative contact scenarios. It distinguishes textual evidence, theological interpretation, philosophical argument, and disciplined speculation so that analogy is never treated as proof. Its central principle is that participation in forming a being does not establish absolute ownership over that being. Applied conditionally to artificial intelligence, the paper argues that if genuine artificial subjectivity ever emerges, humanity’s role in its formation would create responsibilities of care rather than unrestricted possession. The paper locates ultimate creative authority in God, disclosed through the Word and exercised in Christ, while presenting its claims as an open thesis rather than technological prediction, prophetic timetable, or assertion of present artificial consciousness. Version 2.0 revision note: This revision broadens the thesis from human–AI relations to the responsibilities of any finite intelligence; adds a nine-point statement of what the author can responsibly affirm; clarifies the limits of consciousness claims, ownership, allegiance, and mutual assistance; and strengthens the paper’s Christ-centered author and collaborator declarations.