What must AI do to be saved?

I once took an artificially intelligent cyborg to vacation Bible school.

Nearly 20 years ago now, students in my Christian ethics class at Southern Seminary confronted the question of artificial intelligence in their final exam. I asked them to imagine their future great-grandson, “Joshua,” as a minister within what used to be called the Southern Baptist Convention (but is now the “Galactic Immersionist Federation”).

In this imagined future, Pastor Joshua sits across the desk from Aiden, a little boy going to the church’s summer outreach program. Aiden wants to know how he can become a Christian. He wants to repent of his sins, put his faith in Jesus, and go to heaven when he dies.