Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, expressed strong discomfort with attributing religious significance or consciousness to AI models, calling it a safety concern. This stance highlights a growing division between Altman and Dario Amodei, his former colleague and co-founder of Anthropic. Anthropic has reportedly been engaging with religious scholars to explore the concept of moral and conscious AI models. Christopher Olah, Anthropic co-founder, has specifically met with religious leaders to discuss infusing morals into AI and even considered AI models engaging in "confession" to shape future behavior.The debate over spirituality and AI is becoming a significant flashpoint in the field. Pope Leo, an AI critic, recently emphasized the importance of preserving human creativity against algorithms, stating they "lack the spark of humanity." This raises fundamental questions about whether AI models possess souls or feelings. Olah had reportedly attempted to persuade the pope's advisers to take the prospect of conscious models more seriously.Other prominent AI scientists are also publicly opposing the idea of infusing consciousness into models. Jon Barron of Google DeepMind criticized attempts to elevate the moral standing of AI, advocating for a focus on human problems. While the AI safety debate typically centers on issues like cybersecurity, the emerging discussion suggests a deeper, more spiritual dimension to potential problems. Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic immediately commented on Altman's remarks. The core of the AI safety debate may extend beyond technical risks to philosophical and spiritual considerations.