At a time when technology is rapidly advancing and leaving human rights at risk, scholars gathered at the Vatican to commit to building a model that aligns artificial intelligence with human flourishing.

Fr. Michael Baggot, Assistant Professor of Bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, noted, “When we're talking about technology, our goal should be to use the tools to serve human flourishing, to help people and communities really become what they were made to be.”

This resolution was a key focus of the Humanity 2.0 Human Flourishing conference, which brought together engineers, business owners, and experts from various fields to address crucial questions: What is stopping humans from flourishing? How can we create innovative solutions for this?

Matthew Harvey Sanders, CEO of Humanity 2.0, commented, “Based on the trend lines, humanity in almost every respect is doing better than it ever has before, with the exception of the existential plane. We're seeing mental health and spiritual health declining in many parts of the world. This is a problem because if people are psychologically not flourishing, they're spiritually not flourishing, and that tends to create problems everywhere else in people's lives.”

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences hosted the Human Flourishing Forum inside the Vatican.

Sanders noted, “The Church has been studying the human condition continuously longer than any organization on Earth, and the Vatican is very good at appealing to people's better angels and calling them to come together and make contributions for the sake of the common good.”

Also in attendance was Letty Garcia, Associate Director of the Harvard Business School Leadership Initiative, who provided insights on the important role of leadership that the Vatican plays in these discussions.

“What I appreciate about the Vatican is it's always thinking generations ahead,” Garcia commented. “It's not just about 10 years or 20 years. These are generational types of conversations that we're having in a space where conversations that happened hundreds of years ago are still impacting us today, and I hope that the conversations we're having today will be the same for future generations. There's a responsibility that comes with this dialogue.”

Fr. Michael Baggot spoke on a panel about the benefits and drawbacks of using artificial intelligence for the global community.

Fr. Baggot emphasized, “It's important to address them from the paradigm of hope, and true authentic Christian hope is based on an understanding of what it means to be created in the image of God. We are Co-creators with God, so we have the great gift of creativity, and an expression of creativity comes through the technology we make, including AI systems.”

Next year, scholars will gather once again to discuss the progress made on these resolutions and take more strides towards ensuring that all humans have the opportunity to flourish.

“We need to do that hard work together,” Fr. Baggot encouraged, “so that we can really design this map of human flourishing, this map of human happiness, so that all tools, AI or others, can be properly directed and will not lead to that doom of self-destruction.”

Adapted by Jacob Stein