Encountering Artificial Intelligence - (Theological Investigations of Artificial Intelligence)

Book Synopsis

What does it mean to consider the world of AI through a Christian lens? Rapid developments in AI continue to reshape society, raising new ethical questions and challenging our understanding of the human person. Encountering Artificial Intelligence draws on Pope Francis's discussion of a culture of encounter and broader themes in Catholic social thought in order to examine how current AI applications affect human relationships in various social spheres and offers concrete recommendations for better implementation. The document also explores questions regarding personhood, consciousness, and the kinds of relationships humans might have with even the most advanced AI. Through these discussions, the document investigates the theoretical and practical challenges to interpersonal encounter raised by the age of AI.

Review Quotes

"This Vatican-inspired assembly of informed and insightful chapters provides our churches with what they need to apply traditional wisdom to discernment. Such discernment could then be offered to the wider world on behalf of the common good."

--Ted Peters, co-editor, Theology and Science



"From March 2020 to June 2023 a group of twenty international scholars were invited to meet regularly and map out the promises and challenges of AI. They produced an astonishing text, worthy of course adoption for any Christian ethical investigation into AI. Divided into one part anthropology (who are we, what is AI, and how are we now related?) and one part ethics, (what are the pitfalls, promises, and social concerns?), the book is engaging, well-designed, and perfect for faculty looking for a foundational text."

--James F. Keenan, SJ, vice provost for global engagement, Boston College



"This wonderful book is truly an 'encounter' with AI in the best sense: a deep, fair, nuanced, yet highly practical collective exploration by pioneering technologists, ethicists, and theologians of how our engagement with AI helps us answer fundamental questions about who we are and how to flourish in a world ever more integrated with technology."

--David Brenner, board chair, AI and Faith



"This critically important book presents a comprehensive dialogue between Catholic ethics and technological advances in artificial intelligence that is at once cautionary and hopeful about the future. The volume stands as a testament that witnesses to why the humanities and the sciences desperately need one another as we work to secure the common good."

--Anna Floerke Scheid, associate professor of theology, Duquesne University

About the Author

The AI Research Group is a group of theologians, philosophers, and ethicists, organized at the invitation of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See to discuss the issues that artificial intelligence poses for life and society. Contributing to this volume were Matthew Gaudet, Noreen Herzfeld, Paul Scherz, Jordan Wales, Nathan Colaner, Jeremiah Coogan, Mariele Courtois, Brian Cutter, David DeCosse, Justin Gable, OP, Brian Green, James Kintz, Cory Labrecque, Catherine Moon, Anselm Ramelow, OP, John Slattery, Margarita Vega, Luis Vera, Andrea Vicini, SJ, and Warren von Eschenbach.