Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on AI uses the powerful imagery of the Tower of Babel from the Book of Genesis in the Bible to warn of the horribles of what AI may become.
“In order to answer these questions and discern how to navigate responsibly the era of AI, I would like to bring to mind two scenes from the Bible: the construction of the Tower of Babel (cf. Gen 11:1-9) and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (cf. Neh 2–6). The story of Babel appears in the Book of Genesis, at the origins of humanity, immediately after the genealogies of Noah’s sons. After settling in a plain in the land of Shinar, the people decided to build a city and a tower ‘with its top in the heavens’ (Gen 11:4). Fearing being scattered across the earth, they sought to guarantee stability and power for themselves, and above all to ‘make a name’ for themselves. It was an impressive feat: a single language, a single technology, a single direction. However, the project concealed a profound danger. It was a project conceived without reference to God, supported by a uniformity that eliminated diversity and that chose homogenization over communion. When a city is built on pride and the claim to self-sufficiency, communication breaks down, languages are confused and people no longer understand each other. The result is not unity, but dispersion. Babel thus reveals the limits of any effort that, however grandiose, arises from self-affirmation, sacrifices human dignity for efficiency and aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing.”
It’s not surprising the Pope would turn to the Bible for guidance in thinking about the challenges presented by disruptions caused by AI.
But some commentators and experts are even now describing the strong proponents of AI as espousing a religious belief in AI. Yes, religious belief.
Just listen to Father Paolo Benanti, a Catholic priest in the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, who advised the Pope for his encyclical and who writes eloquently today in the Wall Street Journal:
“A new priesthood has emerged in Silicon Valley. Its members are extraordinarily intelligent, fabulously wealthy and—increasingly—ideologically possessed. They speak of extinction and salvation. Of a coming Singularity that will transform human existence beyond recognition. Of the urgent need to build Artificial General Intelligence before the wrong people do, or to prevent it from being built before the right safeguards are in place. Of the existential risk of machines that will either save humanity or destroy it.”
Secular commentators have made similar arguments about the almost religious nature of AI and its strongest proponents for AGI, or artificial general intelligence.
Karen Hao, in her bestselling book Empire of AI that is roundly critical of OpenAI, even uses a 2013 quote from Sam Altman in which he wrote: the most successful founders “are on a mission to create something closer to a religion.”
What Commentators Overlook about the Ideological Divide Over AI
Father Benanti is right when he says: “The age of AI has not made religion irrelevant. It has made the problem of religion unavoidable: the problem of belief, of credibility, of the criteria by which one extraordinary claim earns our trust while another should be resisted. That is a philosophical problem. It is a social problem. And—whether we are comfortable with this or not—it is, at its core, a theological one.”
But he doesn’t go far enough. The debate over AI is undoubtedly an ideological one. But ideology is a two-way street. Just as the strongest proponents of AI (or AGI) are advancing their ideology aka religion the strongest opponents of AI (or AGI) are advancing their ideology aka religion.
To borrow Father Benanti’s words, all sides are “ideologically possessed” in this clash of views.
To draw a historical analogy, Protestantism started out as a “protest” of the Catholic Church. It famously started in 1517 with Professor Martin Luther posting his paper Ninety-five Theses, also known as Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences. Luther’s publication was an ideological one that, in turn, led to a formal religion. But, even if a Protestant church had not ever formed, Luther’s publication would nonetheless be both ideological and religious, staking out positions different from and in disagreement with the positions he attributed to the Catholic Church.
The real challenge is how to resolve the many controversies nations and societies face with the complex disruptions caused by AI. The history of religious wars, even to this day, tells us that religious views still clash among people and countries.
The real challenge is how to resolve the many controversies nations and societies face with the complex disruptions caused by AI. The history of religious wars, even to this day, tells us that religious views still clash among people and countries.
In a pluralistic world, the challenge remains finding common ground in tackling difficult problems. The ongoing military wars, climate change, and COVID pandemic all provide recent reminders of how difficult that is.
It’s difficult enough at the national level. And even harder at the international level.