By Fr. Thom Hennen
Question Box
Q: What does the Catholic Church teach about Artificial Intelligence?
A: As with many emerging technologies, the Church does not have and is not likely to make a blanket statement, positive or negative, on artificial intelligence (AI). The moral question is less about the existence of the technology, which is a testament to human ingenuity, and more about how the technology is applied.
So far, the closest thing we get to an official Church teaching on AI is in a document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith entitled “Antiqua et Nova [Ancient and New]: Note on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence” (01/25).
In a way, AI has been all around us for a very long time. Human beings have been creating tools to make them more productive or to perform certain tasks practically since we were walking. I’m typing this on a computer that can store enough information and run enough programs to make cutting-edge technology used in the Apollo space program look like playing with tinker toys. Even the “computer” (i.e. cell phone) in my pocket is more powerful.
Consider this: What are writing and books? Technologies we invented to store large amounts of information without having to memorize everything. What are libraries but proto-supercomputers? Of course, it still takes a human being to organize, categorize, extract, interpret and apply the information found in books. What is “new” about AI is that we have created something sophisticated enough that it seems to be able to think and create on its own. However, as Pope Francis pointed out, even the term “intelligence,” applied in this way, is a bit of a misnomer.
As with any technology, AI can be used for good or evil, to enhance human flourishing or to hinder it, to speak the truth or to lie and deceive. Here are a few key statements I would highlight from the Vatican document issued earlier this year:
“The ends and the means used in a given application of AI, as well as the overall vision it incorporates, must all be evaluated to ensure they respect human dignity and promote the common good” (par. 42).
“The Church’s moral and social teaching provides resources to help ensure that AI is used in a way that preserves human agency… By exercising prudence, individuals and communities can discern ways to use AI to benefit humanity, while avoiding applications that could degrade human dignity or harm the environment” (par. 47).
The document goes on to consider specific questions on such topics as the environment, economy, labor, misinformation, privacy, warfare, healthcare and education.
In this era that our late Pope Francis called a time of “epochal change,” the Church is called to cultivate a “wisdom of heart” (par. 4). When it comes to AI, we cannot stick our heads in the sand. It is not a fad. It is here to stay. We can learn to master it or we may find ourselves mastered by it.
Like every technology that has come before it, we must figure out how to use AI for the good. In my opinion, the Church is the best poised to be a leader in this endeavor, as we not only consider questions of if but should, and given our integral vision of the human person and the world in relationship to God.
In the end, nothing we have created can match the supercomputer each of us has in our own skulls. Compared to the intelligence who created us in his image and likeness, even that pales in comparison.
(Father Thom Hennen serves as the pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport and vicar general for the Diocese of Davenport. Send questions to messenger@davenportdiocese.org)
