ROME, Italy — Church leaders do not fear artificial intelligence, but they are preparing plans and protocols to test how well AI programs share religious information, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said this week in Rome, Italy.
AI is a defining issue today, and artificial intelligence companies need to ensure that their programs have a moral compass and honestly reflect religious beliefs, Elder Gong said at the Collegio Teutonico in Vatican City on Tuesday, Oct. 21, during the Rome Summit on Ethics and Artificial Intelligence.
“When we promote human-centric, accurate and respectful, ethical and faith-based standards for artificial intelligence and embed within AI moral grounding and moral compass,” he said, “we embrace our divine identity and purpose and promote human flourishing for the common good.”
Elder Gong and other summit participants toured the Sistine Chapel on Monday night. They joined the summit at Pope Benedict Hall in the Vatican for wide-ranging discussions about the implications of AI.
“We do not fear AI, nor do we think AI is the answer to everything,” Elder Gong said. “AI is neither the sum of, nor the solution to, all our opportunities or problems.”
He shared some of the concerns raised by other religious leaders and public policy experts.
“God is God. AI is not and cannot be God.”
— Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
“We deplore addictions and evils that AI is being used to enhance,” Elder Gong said, “including AI ‘adult companions,’ AI-generated pornography and AI-driven gambling.”
“We recognize AI can supercharge digital dopamine,” he said. “This includes social media algorithms optimized to increase each person’s use; draw in more users; maximize advertising; and monetize rage. And, for good and ill, we know AI-enhanced virtual reality, robotics and other leading-edge technologies are coming.”
He said Latter-day Saint computer programmers at BYU have begun creating a robust AI tool of their own to test how well artificial intelligence programs reflect faith and religion.
“Portraying faith traditions accurately or respectfully is not an imposition of religion on AI. Rather, it is a public necessity,” he said. “It is especially needed as increasing numbers of individuals ask AI about faith and belief, and as AI becomes a primary source of information about faith traditions.”
Some leaders noted during the summit that AI programs regularly return incomplete, inaccurate information to questions about their own faith’s beliefs.
“Ideally, AI should accord nondiscriminatory accuracy and respectful portrayal to as many individuals and groups as reasonably possible,” Elder Gong said.
He indicated that the BYU team is beginning to collaborate on the project with evangelical, Catholic and Jewish computer scientists at Baylor University, the University of Notre Dame and Yeshiva University.
“We look forward to adding other universities from across the international diversity of faith and ethical traditions,” Elder Gong said.
He likened the current age to Prometheus and his stolen fire, Icarus and his wings of wax, and the Tower of Babel.
“Today there is too much glib talk about ‘AI becoming God’ or ‘godlike AI,’” he said. “Let us be clear: God is God. AI is not and cannot be God.”
Elder Gong has a background in information studies. In the 1980s, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz assigned Elder Gong to study the information age’s impact on diplomacy.
Last year, Elder Gong was asked to share guiding principles about AI to the general authorities and general officers of the Church and its employees.
“The Church is creating protocols to guard against intentional misuse of AI, such as deepfakes,” he said, “to caution against overdependence on AI for companionship, life guidance or emotional support.
“We are warning against anthropomorphizing AI; AI undermining divine principles of work, faith and reasoning; and AI becoming a counterfeit for something it is not, such as a divine source of inspiration.”
