The Vatican has developed a document on the ethical development of artificial intelligence but Asian religions are silent
Visitors interact with a robot on display at RoboCup 2022, a robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) event in Bangkok on July 16, 2022 (Photo:AFP)
By Ben Joseph
The planet is all set to metamorphose from metaphysics to metaverse. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is building its congregation brick by brick, but that raises concerns about the possibility of humans developing into sinless and soul-less creatures, debasing religions and their ethical teachings.
Established religions — whose raisons d'etre is to help their flock lead a holy life away from sin, by keeping their body and soul pure, and reaching the Kingdom of God — are cautious when it comes to speaking about their future. Will their religion be sacrificed at the altar of a possible AI religion, as AI could promise humans rebirth into immortal silicon bodies with a digital conscience and supremacy and omnipotence?
While the talk is about traditional religions losing their relevance in the presence of AI congregations, all three Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — and the two major contemplative Asian religions — Hinduism and Buddhism — who represent the majority of the world’s faithful, need to educate their people on how to stay put in the new world of transhumanism without free will. Sin, soul and God become meaningless without free will, and it renders all religions redundant.
The Vatican, which leads the world’s most populous religion, has taken the lead in calling for an “ethical approach” to developing Artificial Intelligence. It, along with Microsoft, IBM, FAO and the Ministry of Innovation, a part of the Italian government, issued a document in 2020 to promote such an approach.
The document titled, "The Call For AI Ethics," aims to promote shared responsibility among international organizations, governments, institutions and the private sector so that digital innovation and technological progress do not forget the centrality of mankind.
In developing AI, the so-called Rome Call document focuses on six principles of transparency — inclusion, accountability, impartiality, reliability, and security and privacy. The Catholic Church has taken proactive and creative steps by bringing together scientists and experts within the platform of the Dicastery for Education and Culture.
The document also got the support of Jewish and Islamic religious leaders in January 2023, when Catholic leaders gathered with their “Jewish and Muslim brothers in an event of great importance to call upon the world to think and act in the name of brotherhood and peace — even in the field of technology,” said the RenAIssance Foundation, which promotes the document.
However, we do not see such initiatives in other religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, that have millions of followers, particularly in Asia. In fact, all the major religions are duty-bound to guide their grass root-level followers not to forget the centrality of the human person in any sort of development venture. What would remain of a person if his or her human nature is lost?
In fact, all the established religions know for sure that this disruptive digital makeover and the setting up of the AI congregation are not going to be a cakewalk. They know that the transformation is going to be messy, complex and sometimes scary. Thus, the warnings and the six-principle agenda from the Vatican and others.
The augmentation may make humans smarter and stronger, and more capable than they are today. But the most powerful augmentation demands biological augmentation with advanced IVF (In vitro fertilization) technologies to select the smarter, stronger embryos, bereft of all heritable diseases. Then the choice will be narrowed down to a stratified human society based on those who can afford augmentations and those who cannot.
The proponents of AI human communities advocate transhumanism, which will alter human bodies. They bet big on taming nature and all its creatures — humans, animals and plants — by replacing the current sentient life on earth with an insentient artificial construct. Thus, a thinking human will then be rendered redundant.
The Vatican initiative and the document it developed are still practically unknown in Asia, particularly among Asian Catholics. Catholic leaders in Asian nations need to understand the urgency of the issue and start discussing it with their people as AI has far-reaching implications than developing artificial human beings.
The leaders of the Asian Catholic Church are also duty-bound to take up the Rome Call document with people in Asia — mostly Hindus and Buddhists — with added urgency and creativity. The failure of Asian Catholic leadership here would mean depriving the world of the voice of Asian religions.
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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