the concept of God can only be a sentient being because that is what people believed in and applied the name of God to. the idea of the laws of physics being God would not be God at all, it would be simply a grouping of the physical laws of existence into a single term, but that concept wouldn't be the same as God. so, there is no need to attempt to define what God is in regards to those two different concepts because the concept of god is only one of them and the other is not.
and in the case that the concept of God does not actually exist, that wouldn't make the laws of physics then God, it would simply continue them as what they are...the laws of physics. there is no confusion that needs to be clarified in this regard to then address the existence or non-existence of God.
