Disclaimer: The following document fragment is presented from an in-character perspective, it should not be taken as the truth of the setting.
Context: Artificial intelligence is a very current topic, and granted that the timeline of the setting’s world closely follows our own, they are dealing with their own emerging AI boom as well. But how do mages interact with this trend? They are, after all, not in the least opposed to technology, indeed they are often on the very bleeding edge of science. Thus, they will have their own things to say about the topic of AI.
Though it would not be until the 1820s when the Difference Engine would be born from the mind of Charles Babbage, the fundamental question of what is necessary to perform Veränderung (or the instilment of change within the world through arcane means) had already been asked before.
The oldest record of such considerations comes from the, so-called, Scroll 281, a pseudepigraphy attributed to the Zugot Shemaiah and Abtalion during the 1st century BCE, though much suggests it is a work based on an unknown earlier text. Unfortunately, the contents of the heavily damaged dissertation upon the necessities of the soul contain many partial, unclear and difficult-to-translate passages and ultimately are incorrect in their conclusions, in so far as we understand them.
Indeed, within modern occult, it is even disputed if a soul, or Einheit, is necessary to perform Veränderung within the Leib – the waking world of the Elder Gods. Unfortunately, we all too often lump together the work we perform that defies the unchanging nature of the Elder Gods and that which operates on our understanding of, shall we say, the laws of physics.
With such understanding, though a distinct sense of self, which catalyses the emergence of an Einheit, is necessary to work with the domains of the mind, it is not required for all arcane efforts. Thus, the Difference Engine would be capable of performing many tasks the mages of the day were forced to resolve by hand, including the laborious mathematical work required to chart fractal space.
Regrettably, the work on the Difference Engine, and its successor, the Analytical Engine, bore few practical fruits, for it was not until the 20th century that the designs of these machines became feasible to construct using our technology. During that time, though, they were quickly put into work, testing in practice the theoretical work of such luminaries as Pierre Joseph Louis Fatou and Gaston Maurice Julia.
Today, our computers are capable of calculating and implementing in practice models of higher dimensional constructs that remain nigh incomprehensible for a human being. The physical constraints imposed by human bodies and senses do not apply to machines, allowing them to physically interface with higher-dimensional and exotic matter objects with unparalleled ease. However, only ontological constructs have ever displayed the capability of interacting with the collective subconscious – through being a physically embodied Einheit.
But that does not preclude a future in which a man-made creation develops a soul, or more properly – a sense of self. After all, what is a human body if not a machine driven by electro-chemical processes? At the same time, it might be necessary to first understand what the Einheit truly is. Then, with a proper theoretical basis, the instigation of a nascent artificial soul might be possible.
Esoteric Musings... 