Artificial intelligence requires deep theological reflection, says Italian bishop

Due to its capacity to impact for better or worse, a theological and anthropological reflection on artificial intelligence is necessary, stated Bishop Santo Marcianò, Military Ordinary in Italy.

The prelate made this statement during the national conference of military chaplains taking place in Assisi (Italy).

According to the Italian agency SIRArchbishop Marcianò noted that, while the application of artificial intelligence “can lead to undeniable progress,” it “requires deep anthropological and theological reflection, due to its omnipresence and its ability to impact, for better or worse, in people’s lives.”

But it also, he added, has implications “on history, especially in an era often characterized as ‘postmodernity,’ ‘posthumanism,’ ‘transhumanism.’”

Likewise, he said that “among the most disturbing risks of artificial intelligence, especially for us pastors, online pedophilia must undoubtedly be included, with the brutal crimes it generates.”

The implications of artificial intelligence have been addressed by several bishops in recent years, and the one who has given great emphasis to their reflection is Pope Francis, who in his speech in June 2024 to the participants of the G7 session stated that it is “an extremely powerful instrument.”

“We certainly cannot doubt that the arrival of artificial intelligence represents an authentic cognitive-industrial revolution, which will contribute to the creation of a new social system characterized by complex epochal transformations,” he noted, giving as examples the advances in knowledge and “the possibility of delegating exhausting work to machines.”

However, he indicated that “at the same time, it could bring with it greater inequality between advanced nations and developing nations, between dominant social classes and oppressed social classes, thus endangering the possibility of a ‘culture of encounter’ and favoring a ‘throwaway culture’.”

For this reason, the Pope said that for this instrument to serve the common good and the construction of a better future, it must contain an ethical inspiration. “The ethical decision, in fact, is one that takes into account not only the results of an action, but also the values ​​at stake and the duties that derive from those values,” he said last June.