Feature story
“We kept coming back to one question—what does it mean to be human in this day and age?” said Dr Manoj Kurian, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing.”Tools have always shaped the people who use them. But now we have tools that can converse, reason, and come close to us, even intimately, so the stakes are much higher.”
As a physician, Kurian said he sees real promise in AI—earlier diagnosis, faster research into medicines, and greater independence for people with disabilities. “That promise only counts if everyone can reach it,” he said. “At the same time, we hear of young people turning to chatbots for mental health support, sometimes with tragic results, and of countries in the Global South being pressed to trade away their data sovereignty for investment.
“The ecumenical movement's distinctive gift is to bring the whole of society into view, especially the voices from the margins, and to keep asking three simple questions: who benefits, who knows, and who controls?” Kurian added.
Sara Speicher, deputy general secretary of the World Association for Christian Communication and WCC communication officer on AI, said it was inspiring - and daunting - to hear the range of initiatives, concerns, uses, and hopes that staff, with different perspectives and expertise from communication and IT to mental health and international governance, are addressing in light of the range of artificial intelligence applications and speed of development.
“It demonstrates how impactful AI now is in people's lives, and how relevant and essential church and religious communities are in dialogues and decisions to ensure people-centred, inclusive, accessible, safe, and accountable AI design, development, and use,” she said. “The day's sharing and recommendations will strengthen the WCC response on multiple levels.”
Athena Peralta, director of the WCC Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development, reflected that AI is an issue of justice. “The WCC has previously engaged with emerging technologies and the profound questions they raise for humanity, society, and an unjust world,” she said. “Today, as AI develops at unprecedented speed, we have to look beyond the technology itself and ask deeper questions around who controls and benefits from AI and what are the costs—economic, social, and ecological.”
WCC programme executive for Young People in the Ecumenical Movement Abigayle Bolado commented that young people are well-versed in artificial intelligence, and many, though maybe not all, are using it daily, consciously or unconsciously. “However, what helps one might not be the same for another person,” she said. “We should also consider the impact of the use of AI on the countries or places from which these companies extract resources and minerals to create technologies and, at the same time, the areas where data centres are established.”
Bolado asked: Using AI could offer us numerous benefits, but at what cost? “This question lingers with me; I want to be mindful of the privilege we have and whether it is also costing the environment, health, and resources,” she said. "I am keen to work closely with WCC colleagues on how this process will lead us to practical steps and ideas for AI."