The former Bishop of Oxford has called for faith communities to address the deeper moral and spiritual questions raised by the development of artificial intelligence during two recent appearances on the BBC.
Talking to BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme on 13 September, The Rt Revd Dr Steven Croft – a long-time member of the House of Lords Select Committee on AI – urged churches and faith leaders to take a lead in the debate about the risks of artificial intelligence.
And during a panel discussion about AI on BBC1’s Sunday Morning Live show on 20 September he stressed the importance of faith leaders playing a part in government attempts to regulate the technology.
Both appearances on the BBC followed recent warnings about the potential dangers of AI and calls for coordinated action to slow its development.
In recent weeks, current and former specialists in the AI industry have claimed that it poses an existential threat to the world – with one suggesting there is a greater than 10% chance of it "killing all humans" in the near future and Microsoft's head of AI saying legislation is needed to prevent a "silicon species" from emerging as a competitor to humanity.
In his appearance on Radio 4, Dr Croft said that faith communities should have a role in addressing the deeper moral and spiritual questions raised by the technology.
He argued that the Church should take seriously warnings about AI's potential impact rather than dismissing them as science fiction, adding that questions raised by AI are not solely technological or economic but involve fundamental issues about what it means to be human.
Dr Croft also suggested that the Church may need to recover some of its language about ultimate questions and the future of humanity when responding to what some regard as potentially "apocalyptic" technological developments.
On BBC1’s Sunday Morning Live last weekend, Dr Croft argued that the “important perspective” of faith leaders means they should play a significant role in government oversight of AI.
Dr Croft added: “The church and the faith traditions have been thinking about the central question about what it means to be human for thousands and thousands of years. We have very important things to bring to this debate.
“Whenever I have been involved in these debates with those developing this technology, they have welcomed that and said, ‘please don’t leave it to the computer scientists – this is so important for the future of humanity’.”
Dr Croft retired as Bishop of Oxford this summer. In his retirement speech to the House of Lords in July, he called for governments to be bolder in setting policy and regulating technology firms.
Speaking about AI, he told the Lords: “The speed of change, and the significant power unleashed, make this revolution distinct from other technical developments in the past, because there is a risk that the speed of change will itself undermine the very benefits that change brings.”