Pope Francis calls for wisdom in the face of artificial intelligence

As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent, it is worth reflecting on the words of Pope Francis in his message for World Communications Day. The pope addressed how much this new intelligence can offer to humanity, but also considered its downsides.

Celebrated each year on the Sunday before Pentecost, World Communications Day is a time when the church calls her sons and daughters to reflect on various aspects of how social communications and corresponding technologies influence our lives through the Holy Father’s annual message.

Pope Francis already shared some insights on artificial intelligence in his 2024 World Day of Peace message on Jan. 1, and he continues the theme for World Communications Day, calling for “wisdom of the heart” so as to foster “a fully human communication.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an umbrella term for the technologies that simulate human intelligence through algorithms, data and computational power. As use of artificial intelligence becomes more common, the ethical issues surrounding the technology also grow.

Pope Francis does not provide a pat answer to all the promise and problems posed by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence. Rather, he raises some questions to keep in mind as AI continues to develop. Among those questions are:

— How do we safeguard professionalism and the dignity of workers?

— How do we make the criteria guiding algorithms more transparent?

— How do we make it clear whether or not an image or video is AI-generated?

And perhaps, most importantly:

— How do we “promote an environment suitable for preserving pluralism and portraying the complexity of reality?”

To begin, Pope Francis calls upon all people to start with wisdom of the heart, so that we can “remain fully human and guide this cultural transformation to serve a good purpose.”

The Holy Father invites people to adopt a spiritual way of viewing reality. On the surface, embracing a deeper spirituality doesn’t seem like much of an answer to AI, but only by keeping a tight hold on a maturing of our relationship with God, can we help AI — or any technology for that matter — maintain its proper place, which is, namely, to be of service to the growth of humanity.

Wisdom, a gift of the Holy Spirit, “enables us to look at things with God’s eyes, to see connections, situations, events and to uncover their real meaning.” Such wisdom, the pope reassures us, “cannot be sought from machines.”

AI may be able to help gather more data than we could ever imagine, but it still takes human intelligence to make sense of the data gathered and to apply it for the common good of humanity.

In his message, Pope Francis refers to original sin and the human capacity to be tempted to be “like God without God.” The phenomenal abilities of artificial intelligence to compute more than a human brain ever could, feeds right into the temptation to overcome our humanness by putting too much trust in god-like machines.

“Human beings have always realized that they are not self-sufficient and have sought to overcome their vulnerability by employing every means possible,” the pope writes.

Perhaps an antidote to the temptation to abuse artificial intelligence is to embrace our vulnerability as humans: to accept that we will never know everything, and in accepting, to surrender to the fact that God is God and we are not. And that is a spiritual journey that takes patience, discernment and wisdom of the heart.

The Holy Father ends his reflections on artificial intelligence by placing responsibility for these technologies in our own hands. He says, “it is up to us to decide whether we will become fodder for algorithms or will nourish our hearts with that freedom without which we cannot grow in wisdom….Only together can we increase our capacity for discernment and vigilance and for seeing things in the light of their fulfilment. Lest humanity lose its bearings, let us seek the wisdom that was present for all things.”

Like most other technologies that human intelligence has provided for the good of humankind, AI is a tool that has both positive and negative possibilities depending on how it is used. As we move forward into a world that will rely on artificial intelligence more and more, we must endeavor to be grounded in our truest humanity, made in the image of God. Wisdom and discernment are necessary. Let us pray to grow in these virtues.

Sister Hosea Rupprecht, a Daughter of St. Paul, is the associate director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies.