US bishops launch task force amid rise of artificial intelligence - Arlington Catholic Herald

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced a task force to ensure human dignity is protected as artificial intelligence rapidly develops, and more than a dozen bishops went to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to adopt meaningful safety guardrails for the technology.

The bishops said in a Sept. 16 announcement that the conference’s administrative committee also met with “representatives from a variety of tech firms and specialists” who work with AI.

Bishops’ spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said the meeting “focused on ways to keep any system of artificial intelligence at the service of humanity” as well as “the urgent need to address the real and present dangers such technology presents.”

The meeting came amid warnings from numerous AI leaders of the risks posed by AI systems, which are undergoing rapid advancement and which critics say could one day threaten humanity with extinction if they become advanced enough.