Speaking this week at a faith and technology summit in Vatican City, apostle Gerrit W. Gong of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pleaded with religious leaders around the globe to champion ethical and moral use of artificial intelligence.
At the gathering, Gong doubled down on his counsel for careful use of A.I., especially in regards to misinformation and religious inaccuracies.
“Even in a world influenced by secular thought,” Gong said, “many citizens want moral and religious leaders to help ensure A.I. is accurate, respectful and morally based.”
The Latter-day Saint apostle acknowledged the great good A.I. has accomplished but warned against narcissistic and unethical practices that the technology could adopt.
“As memory and personization enhance A.I. as an echo chamber, we may find A.I. becomes very good at telling us what it thinks we want to hear.” Gong said. “Virtual made-to-order truth is not truth.”
The Utah-based faith’s first and only Asian American apostle also announced that an A.I. team has begun prototyping and testing various faith and ethics evaluations. This team is collaborating with “socially responsible” focused A.I. companies, along with religious institutions and universities such as Baylor, Brigham Young, Notre Dame and Yeshiva universities.
The Latter-day Saint apostle invited all individuals of faith and faith leaders to join the evaluation effort so all beliefs, sects and denominations will be portrayed “accurately and respectfully.”
“Portraying faith traditions accurately and respectfully is not an imposition of religion on A.I. Rather, it is a public necessity,” Gong said. “It is especially needed as increasing numbers of individuals ask A.I. about faith and belief, and as A.I. becomes a primary source of information about faith traditions.”