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Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J., dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, and Brian Patrick Green, director of technology ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, suggest embracing an idea promoted by Pope Francis: synodality–a consultative method characterized by active listening, inclusive dialogue and shared discernment.

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” has captured the world’s attention in a way that almost no other papal document has. The most prominent moral authority on this topic to date, the pope offers a humanity-wide call to action on artificial intelligence and how it can best reflect “human participation in the divine act of creation.”

The essential question for an AI synod could be similarly simple, yet profound. For example: “AI should contribute to and support human flourishing. In what ways does it do so? In what ways does it not?” The fundamental question of course would be, like “Magnifica Humanitas” asks, what kind of future do we want to live in together?

 

Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J., dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, and Brian Patrick Green, director of technology ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, published by Religion News Service.