The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged that artificial intelligence should be developed “to serve our glorious humanity and not to diminish it”.
Most Rev Sarah Mullally led a debate about AI’s impact on humanity in the House of Lords on Friday, in which she warned that regulation is “wholly inadequate” to prevent harm.
She told peers that “there are sadly other uses of AI today which, rather than enhancing human dignity, are providing new ways of degrading it or violating it”, as she raised the role of chatbots in promoting violence against women and girls.
Archbishop Sarah’s wide-ranging speech called for a “pro-human framework” to AI. She began by referencing Hebrews 2:7-9 about God having “crowned [humans] with glory and honour and put everything under their feet”, as the starting point for discussions about AI and humanity’s “inherent dignity and immeasurable value”.
The Church of England’s top bishop described AI as a “remarkable product of human creativity”. As a former chief nurse, she acknowledged its benefits in medicine and making childbirth safer.
But she set out three questions on the impact of AI: whether it will respect the “glory and honour” that God crowned humanity with; how it affects our meaning and purpose; and if it will impact our perception of truth.
Archbishop Sarah said: “A recent report from Durham University presented evidence that chatbots are now facilitating violence against women and girls: allowing roleplays of incest, child sexual abuse and rape with few safeguards, risking the normalisation and the legitimisation of such abuse.
“These harms are not simply the result of user misuse - AI platforms design choices, policies and governance failures are encouraging and enabling them, and existing regulation is wholly inadequate to prevent them.
Archbishop Sarah considered how AI would affect the future of work, with the dignity and critical thinking skills that come with it. She also questioned how it would impact trust in democracy and the future of the planet.
“We must cultivate the character to deal with the opportunities, challenges and temptations that such powerful technology places in our hands, personally and corporately… developed with us and for us.
“Above all, we must put people - our common, glorious humanity - ahead of profit, convenience or technological progress at all costs. To ensure that we harness AI to serve humanity, to be an extraordinary tool in the creation of a more just, abundant and hope-filled world”, she concluded her speech.
The parliamentary debate comes after Pope Leo’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, which set out teaching on the topic of humanity and AI.