In two previous DMs (here and here), we discussed important elements of Pope Leo’s encyclical on “Magnificent Humanity.” In addressing AI, he talks about “disarming” it, meaning resisting “ever more powerful algorithms and larger datasets, driven by the desire to secure geopolitical or commercial dominance.”
In other words, resisting patriarchal dynamics of always needing to be “number one.” To resist dragging the reptilian brain that specializes in dominance into this new industry. He reinforces this issue at the finale of his encyclical where he strongly endorses very the words from Mary’s “Magnificat” about deposing the rich and powerful in God’s name. There he subtly links the title of his encyclical (“magnificent”) to Mary’s fierce feminine values (“Magnificat”).
He elaborates on the term, “disarm.” To disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity. It means freeing technology from monopolistic control and opening it to discussion and debate, therefore making it human-friendly and restoring it to the plurality of human cultures and ways of life.
Here he is clearly allying himself with others who insist that Congress and government need to act around the issues AI raises, and not to leave it up to individual entrepreneurs and strange billionaires to make decisions that affect all of us. A kind of “wild west” attitude prevails among many Silicon Valley chieftains, few of whom are particularly ethically inspiring, seeking to make all the decisions about AI simply because they can. Because they are so rich. The common good must be the criterion, and is better served by representatives of the population at large.
Pope Leo links such decisions to ecology: Our task today is not only ethical or technical. It is ecological in the deepest sense, for it concerns a new dimension of our common home. AI is already an environment in which we are immersed, as well as a force with which we must engage. For this reason, merely regulating it is insufficient; it must be disarmed, welcoming and accessible.
He extends a “special appeal” to the developers of AI: In one sense, technological innovation can represent human participation in the divine act of creation. Developers, therefore, bear a particular ethical and spiritual responsibility. Developers need to “embed values in their projects with due seriousness,” among which are “transparency, responsibility toward affected communities and careful attention to ensuring that what is being cultivated is a genuine good.”
The “central question” remains: “What does it mean to safeguard our humanity?” It means to resist normalizing “an anti-human vision” wherein the fullness of life is equated with having more, reducing weakness, eliminating uncertainty and exerting total control. When efficiency becomes the sole criterion of decision making, humanity becomes reduced to objects or projects “rather than as persons called to relationship and communion.”
The morality of the system must occur within a context of social justice, and must not be imposed “by a few.” What is needed is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating, and of protecting the opportunities for communities still to be able to participate and ask questions.
The danger exists that “AI tends to amplify the power of those who already possess economic resources, expertise and access to data.” This puts too much power in the hands of “small but highly influential groups” that can shape information and consumption patterns, influence democratic processes and steer economic dynamics to their own advantage, undermining social justice and solidarity among peoples….Participation and subsidiarity from communities and intermediary organizations is called for.
He raises a red flag about ecology around the immense amount of water and energy that AI data centers demand. This too is an ecological danger that communities have every right to resist.
Quotations from Pope Leo, Magnifica Humanitas, numbered paragraphs in order of citation: 110, 111, 112, 107, 109.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: The Magnificat, with art by Sebastian Winterhalder. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree with Pope Leo that AI is so powerful and omnipresent that decisions about it cannot be left to its developers alone? And that it is an ecological and spiritual issue as well as economic and political? How best to guarantee the decision making involves all parties and cultures?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality.
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.
Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision For a New Generation.
Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson and Jen Listug: Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action.
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5 thoughts on “Pope Leo on the Limits, Dangers & “Disarming” of AI”
How surreal that so-called “developed societies” regulate many behaviors by imposing legal age limits to take into consideration differences in cognitive and other self-regulating capacity criteria (e.g. driving a car, purchasing or consuming alcohol, tobacco and drugs, sexual activity, voting, accessing (im)”mature” material, etc.) while entrusting the development and use of AI algorithms, machines and weapons to people who, by surrendering every atom of ethical value to greed and power, would rank behind an average 10-year-old in the most basic maturity and emotional intelligence test. I dare not imagine what will come out of allowing the AI Pandora box to be developed and its content released by such modern Dr. Frankenstein’s.
A few words from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus” (1818) are worth meditating: “There can be no community between you and me; we are enemies. […] All my speculations and hopes are as nothing, and like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell. […] Even now I cannot recollect without passion my reveries while the work was incomplete. I trod heaven in my thoughts, now exulting in my powers, now burning with the idea of their effects. From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty ambition; but how am I sunk! “ etc.
Pope Leo needs also to connect the dots and allow women to be ordained, and the Blessed Virgin Mary to be given the title Co-Redemptrix/Mediatrix. He cannot simply reference the Magnificat and then agree to deny Mary that title, or remove from further conversation the question of women priests. The patriarchal system in the Church must be acknowledged, and the need to restore Feminine presence and values must be practically implemented before true Peace can be obtained.
Perhaps the time has come for Mary’s Magnificat to be included in every Sunday Mass liturgy.
Yes! Yes! Becoming more informed about the dangers of AI seems to be very important on our personal and communal spiritual journeys in our evolution as Humanity with one another and with Sacred Mother Earth/Her living creatures (including physical/nonphysical spiritual beings/dimensions; lorian.org)/Graceful abundance, and with Our Sacred living evolving Cosmos….
I hope to be pardoned for not knowing the potentially beneficial results of AI for scientific and agricultural amelioration, and solving problems like education and unhoused people and their children. AI proponents have convinced farmers to sell their lands for nothing that benefits the common good, locally or in general. My state, Ohio, has 202 data centers. Why so many, if one data center has nearly infinite capacities? More fundamentally, what data do they process, and for what purposes? Can Lake Erie and local lakes and rivers be counted on for infinite water, none of which will be usable after the data centers process it? Why don’t local municipalities insist that data centers pay for all their expenses? Spiritual thinking, as Pope Leo does, is available to all humans who think morally. Vast information can include the solutions to the urgent needs of many.