Leaders from Hinduism, Sikhism, Mormonism, and other religions, along with AI companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI, are meeting to formulate principles on how to incorporate ethics and morality into AI models.

Representatives from Anthropic and OpenAI, among others, reportedly participated in the ' Faith-AI Covenant ' roundtable in New York, where they discussed how to incorporate ethics and morality into AI alongside various religious leaders. The conference was organized by the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities, which addresses issues such as extremism and human trafficking, and similar conferences are planned for Beijing, Nairobi, and Abu Dhabi.

Tech companies increasingly seek faith leaders' guidance on artificial intelligence | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-ethics-religion-roundtable-053a44133c64703f83fd50c9ee6124ea

This is not the first time an AI company has invited religious figures to a meeting; in the past, Anthropic has reportedly held meetings with Christian leaders and philosophers.

Anthropic holds summit with Christian leaders and philosophers: Can AI 'Claude' become a 'child of God'? - GIGAZINE

The ultimate goal of the Faith-AI Covenant, which was held recently, is to establish 'common norms and principles' based on diverse faiths ranging from Christianity to Sikhism and Buddhism, and it is expected that each technology company will abide by them. Representatives from a wide range of religious organizations attended the roundtable discussion, including the Hindu Temple Association, the Baháʼí International Community, the Sikh Union, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church).

Baroness Joanna Shields, a key partner in the Faith-AI Covenant initiative and a politician with experience working at Google and Facebook, pointed out that legislation has not kept pace with the advancements in AI, and argued that religious leaders with billions of followers worldwide possess the 'expertise to guide people's moral safety.'

Baroness Shields also stated that many AI technologists understand the power and potential of what they are building and want to do it the right way.

Some religious organizations had already established their own ethical guidelines for AI use even before technology companies made contact. For example, the Mormon Church conditionally approves of AI in its scriptures, stating that 'AI cannot replace the gifts of divine inspiration or the personal effort required to receive them, but it can be a useful tool to improve learning and education.'

Furthermore, the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, adopted a resolution in 2023 stating that 'we should not passively respond to emerging technologies such as AI, but rather actively engage with and shape them.'

Furthermore, there are challenges in formulating common principles. Diana Gerson, a Jewish rabbi and vice president of the New York Rabbinic Commission, pointed out that 'while the world's religions have some things in common, their values and priorities differ,' adding that 'each religious community has its own set of priorities.'

Brian Boyd, faith liaison officer for the non-profit organization Future of Life Institute, acknowledged that these corporate actions have a PR aspect, but stated that they also represent both a belated recognition of moral responsibility on the part of the companies and a sincere questioning of the situation.

Furthermore, Dylan Baker, principal research engineer at the Distributed AI Research Institute, warned that these discussions about ethical AI development risk obscuring the fundamental question of whether AI should even be developed in the first place.

On the other hand, there are also skeptical views on this development. Luhmann Choudhury, who served as the Biden administration's science envoy for AI, criticized such efforts as 'at best a distraction, and at worst a distraction from truly important issues.'

Choudhury stated that it was 'very simplistic' for Silicon Valley to believe it could find universal ethical principles, and analyzed that companies are now turning to religion for answers because they are looking for ways to deal with ambiguity in ethically gray areas.