Faith leaders have raised the impact artificial intelligence will have on humans in a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Senior Irish clerics were among representatives from the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) and members of the Council of Churches (CEC) who met the Taoiseach in Dublin on Thursday to discuss Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The leaders of Catholic and Protestant churches also raised concerns about human rights in Gaza and the need to balance investment in security and defence with an EU-wide peace strategy.
COMECE and CEC have regular meetings with countries holding the rotating European Union presidency and met Martin to set out the faith groups’ priorities at the start of the State’s term.
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Speaking after the meeting, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson said faith leaders had raised concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on the “human person”, cuts to funding in international humanitarian aid and issues around the diminishing role of religious and civil society groups in parts of Europe.
Jackson confirmed Gaza was also raised in the meeting, with the Taoiseach sharing concerns that the enclave was a “no-entry” zone for journalists and faith leaders.
Jackson also said a possible conflict between the themes of values and competitiveness for our presidency also came up in the meeting, with faith leaders articulating concerns about the deregulation of AI under the competitiveness agenda.
“It would seem, on one level, that competitiveness is a runaway train. It would also seem that defence and security, while on one level nobody can say no to it because we want security for all, could again be another runaway train,” said Jackson.
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“It’s always important when you’re talking to people who make big decisions in the real world not to come across as a Luddite, somebody who’s against development,” he said. “We need to work with, as it were, what are the good new things that are happening. But part of what we were there to articulate was the integrity of I think what Pope Leo referred to as reason over and against machines.”
The Taoiseach was asked to consider including faith leaders in an upcoming summit on AI, which the State is hosting as part of its presidency.
COMECE president Msgr Mariano Crociata said “we need to be capable of governing these technologies in a certain way so that they don’t go out of hand”.
The faith leaders also used the meeting to advocate for EU enlargement, including allowing countries like Ukraine to join the bloc. Catholic and Protestant faith leaders told Martin that clerics could play a role in promoting EU enlargement to citizens in candidate and current member states.
