In late spring, I was up at Madonna House in Canada for two weeks. One week was a personal retreat, while week two was more about using my talents to help them. In that, I was asked to write something on artificial intelligence following the Madonna House spirituality. From that, I thought this shorter article would help a lot of people to have the right attitude to this new technology.
I divide it into two parts: what the Pope and the Church recommend for all, and what the Nazareth Spirituality and Little Mandate of Madonna House tell us if we want to go further.
It was just posted on the Madonna House site, but here are some highlights.
A big point of any technology is to use it as a tool. A tool refers to something made by human beings to serve some specific human purpose. […]
We need not understand how a tool works to use it, but we need to remain focused on our goals, not letting it determine our goals. For example, few know exactly how a fridge or microwave work, but we can still use them as tools for our food. AI is often a black box like this where we don’t know exactly how it works. […]
AI also carries the risk of dehumanization. Pope Leo mentions this in Magnifica Humanitas 10: “We must, then, avoid the… pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance.
“The risk of dehumanization — of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means — is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise.” […]
First, a big challenge in using a technology like AI is the loss of a sense of community. When the Amish explain why they don’t use a lot of modern technologies, they explain that their focus is on maintaining community.
Likewise, community life, expressed in Nazareth spirituality, is a key part of the Madonna House spirit. Such a spirit is built up over repeated small, personal interactions. Asking AI rather than asking another person is one less human interaction.
Secondly, technology can depersonalize us. There is something different about praying the rosary with a recording than praying it with a person. If I shop at a local store, I will likely say hello to people I know, but if I shop on Amazon, it does not matter who packs my order.
I encourage you to read it all over there.
