Ep. 166 - A Middle Way for AI?

Debates over artificial intelligence tend to vacillate between the poles of blustery optimism and spiraling despair, with AI boosters making stratospheric claims for the technology just as critics vociferously denounce its capacity for disruption. But could there in fact be a via media on AI, a path that celebrates technological advances while also respecting limits and safeguards? The key to such a shift, argues ethicist Meghan Sullivan, a professor of philosophy at Notre Dame, where she also directs the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, is a commitment to prioritizing human life over technocratic paradigms. That means, above all, foregrounding human dignity—a concept the Catholic Church is well-positioned to articulate. Plus, Commonweal senior correspondent Heidi Schlumpf reports on Catholic news from the past few weeks, including schism, ICE roundups, and new polling about young people and religion. For further reading: Our symposium on Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas Meghan Sullivan on the DELTA framework for AI Heidi Schlumpf on the ‘tradwife’ phenomenon