Dear Parishioners and Friends,
Greetings from Malta. We continue to reflect on what Pope Leo XIV shares with us through Magnifica Humanitas.
A reality that causes great concern to all of us is the issue of “disinformation” and “fake news”. The encyclical acknowledges that “disinformation,” “fake news,” and other forms of manipulation of information are not new. But AI can amplify them dramatically. Pope Leo holds back from identifying specific policies for the control of speech, but he calls for the shared pursuit of honest communication and social trust (MH 132).
He emphasizes that the shared pursuit of verified facts is a common good. A society cannot reason together, deliberate justly, or build trust if the difference between truth and falsehood is constantly manipulated. In addition, manipulated narratives can obscure the lessons of history and make people more vulnerable to fear, propaganda, and control (MH 191).
Science fiction movies (like Alita and Megan) deal with AI consciousness or sentience. The encyclical has something to say about this, and in fact warns against equating artificial “intelligence” with human intelligence. The Holy Spirit has inscribed dignity in each of us, and “no computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil” (MH 233).
Human intelligence is embodied. It matures through experience, relationships, joy, suffering, moral conscience, and responsibility. AI can imitate language, behaviour, analysis, and even empathy, but its outputs remain tied to data processing, statistical adaptation, and feedback. It does not possess a body, conscience, moral responsibility, or the capacity for genuine human understanding (MH 99).
One harmful use of AI is the violation of privacy. Even worse is the danger of delegating moral responsibility to automated systems (MH 102).
This is especially serious when AI influences decisions about employment, credit, access to public services, reputation, or opportunity. Such systems do not know “compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and above all, the hope that people are able to change” (MH 102). For this reason, important decisions affecting human dignity, as well as the governance of data, require transparency, accountability, and human responsibility. (to be continued…)
God bless you.
Fr Silvio