Apostolic nuncio calls for ‘moral voice’ in AI development

Speakers at a Georgetown University event said Magnifica Humanitas offers moral guidance without policy steps, and the nuncio noted rising concern that debates over AI need a moral voice.

Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States, discussed the need for a “moral voice” in artificial intelligence (AI) development during a panel discussion hosted by Georgetown University on Sept. 9.

The panel, titled “AI, Catholic Social Teaching, and Pope Leoʼs Invitation to Dialogue with the World,” examined Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and its call for a shared human effort to develop technology that serves the common good rather than harms it.

Speakers noted that the Holy Father’s encyclical stopped short of prescribing specific policy ideas for addressing the moral and ethical concerns, but the nuncio said “there is the perception that we need a moral voice” on the subject.

“A moral voice is what?” he said. “Not everything which is possible to be done should be done. Not everything that technology offers should be taken. This is a moral choice.”

Caccia stressed that decisions affecting human lives should not be handed over to AI, citing distinctions between AI algorithms and the human conscience, as the Holy Father discussed in Magnifica Humanitas.

Leo drew a distinction between artificial intelligence and human intelligence in the encyclical, focusing on how each approaches moral questions. The pope wrote that he rejected ideas of “artificial moral agents” and the notion that a machine can “distinguish between right and wrong with greater consistency than a human being.”

“Moral judgment cannot be reduced to calculation, for it involves conscience, personal responsibility and the recognition of the other as a person,” Leo wrote. “Therefore, it is not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems.”

Caccia said during the panel discussion that, as a society, “we have to keep the value of the human relationship.”

“The problem is that [if] life and death is decided by a machine, not by the human being, who is accountable?” he said. “So these are very important, important questions. But I am confident, as I said, that together we can face this situation and find a way.”

The nuncio said he has similar concerns about the use of AI in other types of decision-making that impacts humans.

“I hear very troubling accounts of algorithms that can block access to healthcare, employment, and security on the basis of data tainted by prejudice and injustice,” he said. “And Iʼve heard the silence of those who have no voice. When decisions are made, decisions [are] likely to generate new forms of exclusion and suffering.”

Quoting the encyclical, Caccia affirmed the pope’s call that AI “needs to be disarmed.”

“The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity,” he said. “This is more or less a framework in which we can go on with the conversation.”

Speaking to EWTN News after the panel, Caccia said the pope’s call to address moral concerns of AI is not just a call to Church leadership but to every Catholic.

“There is, of course, the voice of the bishops,” he said. “But there is also the voice of Catholic people who are in the business or are engineers who are in the economy, who are in the field. So itʼs not just for those who have pastoral responsibility, but for the bigger community.”

Pope’s impact on AI discussion

Several panelists discussed the importance of Magnifica Humanitas in providing a type of moral guidance on AI development that focuses on the common good of humanity.

Jasmine Sun, a journalist who writes about AI and Silicon Valley, said she “was actually surprised by how much folks I knew in Silicon Valley, in the AI industry did pay attention to Magnifica Humanitas.”

“It was a lot more engagement, I think, than I expected,” she said. “And once again, I think itʼs because there is this sense that the profit motive that has driven Silicon Valley, that continues to drive Silicon Valley, is not enough.”

Molly Kinder, CEO of the Breakwater Initiative, said the Church provides “wisdom and moral leadership” and believes its broad focus on humanity is why people listened.

“Iʼm struck that in the opening pages of the Bible, there is a discussion of Adam and Eve being put on Earth to till the land as our fundamental reason for existing,” she said. “And it feels to me sometimes when Iʼm in Silicon Valley … they almost talk about almost a new Garden of Eden that AI is going to bring about, that maybe our purpose is not to work, or maybe itʼs leisure or a check and a hobby.”

Caccia too said he was “positively surprised” by the reaction to the encyclical, saying “it seems that there was a need to do something about this.”

“It didnʼt pretend to have the answers,” he said, “but he put questions, common questions that we have to tackle together to decide where we want to go.”