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World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm attended the roundtable, which was designed to allow participants from religious institutions, technology companies, and civil society to engage in dialogue on ethical considerations of AI.
As the emergence of AI represents a significant shift in how human beings interact, learn, and find meaning, the Faith-Al Covenant is a multi-faith, multi-stakeholder framework designed to establish moral guardrails for artificial intelligence across societies.
The roundtable agenda included an introduction to the covenant and its goals, as well as reflections on the spiritual dimensions of innovation. Representatives from Anthropic discussed capabilities, constraints, and open questions on frontier AI.
Participants also discussed questions of companionship, vulnerability, and authority, as well as wider societal impacts of AI on community resilience, truth, and social cohesion.
Attendees discussed the shared responsibilities of faith leaders, AI developers, and civil society, helping to inform the ongoing development of the Faith–AI Covenant.
“The roundtable on AI in Paris was, on a small scale, what we urgently need widely on a global scale: an intensive exchange on the ethical guidelines and legal framework of AI between faith leaders, representatives of AI companies, nongovernmental organizations engaged in the theme, and political decision-makers,” said Bedford-Strohm. “Due to the extremely fast development of this technology, there is a great urgency. AI can save lives, but it can also destroy souls and communities. Also, many non-faith-based speakers emphasized the crucial role that religious communities can play because they can give guidance on an issue that deeply touches our very understanding of human beings and their responsibilities.”
Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, said: “The participation of representatives of tech companies and the AI science community was particularly important, helping to illustrate the choices and challenges they face on ethical questions, in the absence of adequate regulatory frameworks to mitigate the potentially grave risks that such a transformative technology poses.”
H. E. Metropolitan Emmanuel, Elder Metropolitan of Chalcedon, member of the WCC executive committee and chair of the Advisory Board of the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities, the host organization for the roundtable, offered welcoming remarks, as well as a closing for the gathering.
Artificial Intelligence and Human Dignity: What Does the Church Say? EWTN interview (in German)