Our newly elected pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, is well aware of the pervasive influence digital media and technology have on human society. He regularly shares his teachings and insights on his social media accounts (as moderated through the Vatican) and has expressed his support of using artificial intelligence (AI) as a means of evangelization. Wisely, he cautions that we should thoughtfully and prayerfully implement this new technology so that it “respects human dignity and elevates spiritual understanding.”
However, serious concerns about AI are being voiced from many different aspects of society. Teachers are frustrated that students are using it to complete assignments and that it is depriving our young people of the ability to think deeply and critically. White collar workers are anxious that their jobs will be quickly replaced by this new technology; lawyers, accountants, computer programmers know that much of what they do can be accomplished quicker and more cheaply by AI. In the healthcare field, there are plans to use AI to more efficiently diagnose diseases and help make clinical decisions. What makes AI qualitatively different from how computers functioned in the past is that AI is extremely proficient in replicating human interactions. This is why it is used as “bots” on many websites to respond to customer questions. It can mimic human conversation and actually learn new responses based on the prompts it receives.
One place where AI robots are proposed to be deployed is with the care of the elderly. Many elderly spend hours or days without any kind of meaningful human interaction. They may not have any family or friends nearby who can regularly visit them, so they often live lonely, isolated lives. And studies have shown that loneliness can be as detrimental to one’s health as any physical ailment. Thus the idea of using AI robots to help alleviate this human suffering is well intentioned. What could be so wrong with using robots to help bring some companionship into the life of our elderly?
The danger is that what these AI robots offer is not genuine companionship or emotions, but mere simulations of it. They are, in a sense, exploiting the loneliness of a human being and providing them with an artificial substitute for care and affection. Human beings crave real human relationships and can never truly be satisfied by an algorithm that mimics love.
Mother Angeline, in founding the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, believed that the elderly need and deserve to spend the autumn of their lives in a home-like environment, an environment that responds to loneliness and isolation with human compassion. An AI robot can provide distraction for an old person, but it cannot offer genuine kindness as it has no soul, no heart. Mother Angeline instructed her young sisters that “ the best and most efficient way to deal with old people is to be kind. No school can teach you this lesson. It comes from a heart that is filled with the love of God’. Just as Jesus Christ was the Incarnation of God in human form, we as Christians are called to incarnate His love to those who need it: the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the elderly. We cannot outsource our Christian vocation to a computer program, no matter how sophisticated it may be.
The charism of Mother Angeline flows into the Congregation that she founded, and the Sisters today believe wholeheartedly that each human life is sacred and worthy of respect and dignity. Because the elderly are made in the image and likeness of God, they deserve the love and attention that only another human being can offer. No program, no machine can replicate the gift of self that occurs when one person reaches out to another in need.
A way this AI technology continues to develop and work its way into our lives, may we learn to use it in a that truly respects human dignity and builds up the human community according to God’s plan.
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