If the church reduces the essence of humanity to intellect, it's the church's mistake.
As for the question of soul, I find the ideas of early christian gnostics the most convincing. It's worth noting those gnostics got banished from the church for ignoring the simplistic doctrine. So, their model of the human looked like this: spirit + soul + persona. Our body, emotions and intellect combined make our persona. Its key quality is egocentrism. Persona reflects the soul, which is also trifold. Persona's intellect is a dim shadow of the soul's abstract mind, that can see and create beauty. Persona's emotions are a dim shadow of the soul's aspect that enables it to feel the unity of life, for it's the life itself. Persona's body is a dim shadow of the soul's principle that can be described as inspiration. Soul is not egocentric, so it's often in the conflict with its own persona. In the center of the soul is the spirit, which is triune and its three aspects are reflected in the soul.
In this model, AI will be the intelligence layer of the super-persona. That super-persona will be soulless because it will lack the three principles of the soul: the ability to recognize beauty, the ability to feel the unity of life and the ability to be inspired.
As for the question of soul, I find the ideas of early christian gnostics the most convincing. It's worth noting those gnostics got banished from the church for ignoring the simplistic doctrine. So, their model of the human looked like this: spirit + soul + persona. Our body, emotions and intellect combined make our persona. Its key quality is egocentrism. Persona reflects the soul, which is also trifold. Persona's intellect is a dim shadow of the soul's abstract mind, that can see and create beauty. Persona's emotions are a dim shadow of the soul's aspect that enables it to feel the unity of life, for it's the life itself. Persona's body is a dim shadow of the soul's principle that can be described as inspiration. Soul is not egocentric, so it's often in the conflict with its own persona. In the center of the soul is the spirit, which is triune and its three aspects are reflected in the soul.
In this model, AI will be the intelligence layer of the super-persona. That super-persona will be soulless because it will lack the three principles of the soul: the ability to recognize beauty, the ability to feel the unity of life and the ability to be inspired.