The Pope said 'use AI for Love'
At least that's what I heard when I read the Encyclical
‘We must ask God for the wisdom to interpret the great trends of our time, particularly technological advances’.
Maybe I should not have been surprised at what a big deal Pope Leo’s Encyclical on AI really is, but I’m pretty excited about how many people have been talking and writing about it.
What I’ve noticed: people mostly focused on the warnings.
Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I. in 42,300-Word Encyclical
the New York Times
Pope Leo’s Unsettling Vision of the AI Future
the Atlantic
Pope, urging AI regulation, warns some weapons now beyond humanity’s control
Reuters
I was a little concerned. Did the Pope take 42,000 words to scold us? Where was the theology?
Then I read Arthur Brooks’ article in the Free Press, and I was a little more heartened. At least he focused on the Pope’s words of evangelism and encouragement:
If - as innovators, policymakers, and individuals - we start with a principled intent for the development and use of this amazing technology, then it can improve our lives, and even bring us closer to God.
That’s when I knew I had to read the whole Encyclical myself.
Here’s what stood out to me (emphasis mine):
Questioning this alternative path of progress and how we interpret and live it is ultimately a matter of examining our own hearts. The way we understand and shape relationships, work and institutions, in practice reveals our fundamental values. In the end, it all stems from what we hold most dear.
This is a love that guides us as to what we truly cherish, both as individuals and as a society, and directs our lives and actions.
Saint Augustine described human history as a struggle between two loves, which give rise to two ways of inhabiting the world and living together — or two “cities,” as it were: on the one hand, the love of God and neighbor; on the other, the exclusive love of self. “Two loves have built two cities: the earthly city, the love of self even to the contempt of God; the heavenly city, the love of God even to the contempt of self.”
As throughout history, these two loves continue to contend for dominance in our hearts today. The age of AI is no exception: the construction of Babel or the rebuilding of Jerusalem begins within each one of us.
MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV ON SAFEGUARDING THE HUMAN PERSON IN THE TIME OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
It’s bestowed upon US.
You and me. WE have the choice to share love in this world, or share division.
WE have the choice to use technology for harm or indifference to our neighbors OR to use it to build relationships, foster community, care for one another in God’s name, and tell the saving story of Jesus.
Yes, Pope Leo does issue warnings as well - about how AI (and technology in general) can and does create harm in this world.
But when I read it, I was mostly struck by the hope - and the challenge - he offers.
We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fullness in Christ, the splendor of which no machine can ever replace
Pope Leo XIV
He makes clear we have the choice - and the power - to use AI for LOVE. For creating good in the world.
It’s not just about how they are using AI (tech companies, governments, etc).
It’s also how we are.
We have power we have never had before to share the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
This is, personally, why I get so jazzed learning new technology - and teaching it to ministers of all kinds.
It doesn’t just make the ‘stuff’ of ministry easier: the organization and administration and bulletins and buildings and budgets.
It makes the Good Stuff of ministry easier:
helping people know how much God loves them
supporting prayer, worship, and Christian practice in community
combatting suffering with hope, and loneliness and isolation with JOY.
The Tower of Babel and the Wall of Jerusalem
The Pope contrasted these two events in the Bible: building the tower of Babel - ‘to make a name for ourselves’ (Genesis 11:1-9), and Nehemiah 1:1-7:73), where a wall of protection is rebuilt around Jerusalem.
We can choose whether to use power for our own sake - or for the sake of others.
And though there are risks - these are risks we are invited to take for good.
The project for a civilization of love, therefore, must undertake the task of transforming this imposed interdependence into a willed and chosen solidarity.
This is the guiding principle for technological processes: it is not enough for artificial intelligence to make us more efficient or connected; it must also serve to build a universal human family, with shared rights and duties, where digital proximity becomes a real opportunity for encounter and mutual care.
MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS
‘Love first. Then do anything you please.’
It’s my favorite quote from St. Augustine (right after ‘Lord, make me chaste. But not yet!’)
Reading Arthur Brooks’ take on the Encyclical reminded me that the Pope quotes Augustine there because he himself is in an Augustinian order.
It all comes back to love.
We have more power, more creativity, more tools than ever before to share what we know, what we have heard, about Jesus.
About how love is stronger than death, a gazillion times more powerful than anything a machine could ever create, and the only resource that keeps growing the more we share it.
I don’t know about you - but I’m all in.
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