The Church in the future of AI

The rapid development in artificial intelligence (AI) is making many pause and ask the question: What makes humans different from machines? A group of Catholic clergy is seeking to answer this by closing the common image of division between science and theological tradition.

In an interview with Religion News Service, Bishop Paul Tighe, the secretary of the Vatican Council for Culture, emphasized that programmers not trying to re-create humanity, but make something different.

As advancements continue to be made, Fr. Philip Larrey of CatholicTech’s faculty and Research Ethics Committee says that the Silicon Valley is looking to the Catholic Church for an understanding of the human condition and a guide for boundaries. Fr. Larrey says, “They are asking questions about ethics and the ramifications of what they are doing.”

The Minerva Dialogues, an annual meeting organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, allows major tech companies and Catholic prelates to meet with anonymity and discuss the mutual interest in the connection between developments in the Silicon Valley and the Vatican. Bishop Tighe says, “This continuity of the dialogue has created a context of friendship,” and that there is “a determined effort by all participants to try and ensure that the development of AI will ultimately be in service to humanity and trying to put the human person at the center.”

For more details, read more at Religion News Service.