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Greetings From The Arrupe Coordinator |
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Greetings all, and welcome to our second newsletter for 2024. You may wonder why I would devote one of our newsletters to the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in our world; after all, it doesn’t, at face value at least, appear to have much to do with spiritual direction! Yet, it has everything to do with spiritual direction when we consider that spiritual direction in the Ignatian tradition is all about fostering good discernment.
This year, on World Communications Day (celebrated each year on the Sunday before Pentecost), Pope Francis called on all people to turn “to the wisdom of the heart” when discerning AI, so that we will be able to “remain fully human and guide this cultural transformation to serve a good purpose”.
To make good choices we need to be informed, we also need to understand the issues in play, and reflect deeply on their significance. That is the intent of this newsletter – to examine AI and all its complex implications, positive and negative.
Consequently, in this newsletter you will find links to many articles, podcasts and books that shed light on the AI phenomenon from a variety of viewpoints. You will need to reach your own conclusions. Perhaps we can agree that collectively, we need to consider and weigh the issues carefully carefully, since the way in which we negotiate this challenge may well determine the future of humanity. |
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If we turn this wonderful technology we have for knowledge into a weapon for disinformation … we are in deep trouble. Because we won't know what we know, and we won't know who to trust, and we won't know whether we're informed or misinformed. We may become either paranoid and hyper-sceptical, or just apathetic and unmoved. Both of those are very dangerous avenues. And they're upon us.
(Daniel Dennett: 'Why civilisation is more fragile than we realised') |
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Depending on the inclination of the heart, everything within our reach becomes either an opportunity or a threat. Our very bodies, created for communication and communion, can become a means of aggression. So too, every technical extension of our humanity can be a means of loving service or of hostile domination.
Pope Francis: “AI is awakening humanity from the slumber induced by the illusion of omnipotence” |
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In an interview in the Paris Review in 1964, Pablo Picasso commenting on ‘the enormous new mechanical brains or calculating machines’ declared, “But they are useless. They can only give you answers.” Given the hype surrounding AI today, one can only smile wryly and applaud such a brilliant and prescient observation!
You may have seen the headline recently, “Ukraine unveils AI-generated foreign ministry spokesperson”. It was touted as “a world first”. Maybe I’m overreacting, but I found this a little creepy and unnerving – and more than a little frightening. In the Catholic press we had the case of Artificial Intelligence Fr Justin. The headline in La Croix read “Can artificial intelligence replace a priest?" And now, just this month, we hear about the emerging market of “grief tech”. This, according to Eryn Reyes Leong in America Magazine is “the latest wonder child of artificial intelligence that allows the living to remain digitally connected to the dead through ‘ghostbots’.” Through the power of AI, “we can build ghostbots out of the dead using the data—texts, emails, voice conversations, etc.—of our deceased loved ones,” Ms. Leong writes. “Although ghostbots cannot think, feel or have bodily form, their words offer a semblance of humanity by imitating the language of our dearly departed.” Reading this sent a shiver down my spine and made me long for the innocent days of ‘Ghostbusters’! Now, instead of such innocence we have these unsettling ‘ghostbots’ to bring back our loved ones. In the article, Leong goes on to argue that digitising the dead presents an existential crisis for Christians: “With the rapid advancement of generative AI, what is at stake is us. We are unique persons created and loved by God whose totality cannot be distilled by technology.”
Yes, what is at stake is us!
The best any machine will ever be able to do, is fake our deep and complex human emotions. True, machines might be developed to a level where they are able to fake our experiences better than any human. For example, a machine might be able to fake being a saint more than any real holy person, but it will never be real. The music artificial intelligence composes will always be fake no matter how wonderful it sounds, and the same for poetry and literature. It will never come from the soul of a flesh and blood human who lives the agony and the ecstasy of human existence. But let us not be under any illusion, we are moving into a world where people are now losing the capacity to know the difference between real and fake because that very capacity comes from informed discernment and deep wisdom. If we collectively lose the capacity to distinguish the real from the fabricated, we become susceptible to all forms of unreality - unreality that is being peddled as ‘truth’ and ‘reality’.
In January of this year Pope Francis devoted his World Day of Peace message to the subject of artificial intelligence. I have listed this as one of my article choices (below); it is a significant and valuable contribution. He begins his address on a positive note, pointing out that Sacred Scripture attests that God bestowed his Spirit upon human beings so that they might have “skill and understanding and knowledge in every craft” (Ex 35:31), consequently science and technology “manifest this fundamentally relational quality of human intelligence; they are brilliant products of its creative potential.” He acknowledges that the “remarkable advances in new information technologies”, offer “exciting opportunities” but also “grave risks”. According to Francis, AI will be positive for humanity only if we show ourselves capable of acting responsibly and respect such fundamental human values as “inclusion, transparency, security, equity, privacy and reliability”. A big ask, it must be said, as AI is being driven in the opposite direction, away from all these key values.
So, where are we with the development of AI right now?
By now, we are all familiar with Chat GTP and its magic powers. But we also have Google Gemini and Microsoft Bing (and others). We have humanoids and chatbots too. Take a look at this two-minute video of a robot interacting with a human. It’s a little unnerving, not only because he can do everything it is asked to do, but most of all because it sounds so human.
Almost by the day there are new developments and advances. Just recently, deepfake technology has taken another giant step forward: Microsoft has created an AI model that can generate an animated video of a person speaking or singing using just one high resolution photo and an audio track of their voice. Inventing reality has just got easier.
The team behind Chat GPT has also released a tool nicknamed 'Sora' and can generate fully formed videos from a simple written prompt. Little wonder that Deep fakes are spreading like wildfire across social media. Given just 30 seconds of moderate quality video, freely available AI services can now create an artificial version of any speaker – or a wholly fictional person – and have them say whatever they invent. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has used AI tools to create different versions of himself speaking fluently in regional languages, in order to win more votes. The same techniques have been deployed in Indonesia and Pakistan. There is ample evidence to suggest that AI will be a powerful weapon for interfering in the US election later this year. This is only the start.
The question is: what will these developments do to us? How will it impact public trust? Will the concept of ‘truth’ become a relic of the past?
There is some evidence to suggest that the proliferation of deep fakes is intensifying polarisation and amplifying violence and aggression.
Machines are now being employed to make decisions in place of people. In the Rise of Big Data Policing, Andrew Ferguson points out some major pitfalls of using AI in this way. “Who gets access to housing, to credit?” he asks. “What jail sentence should this person receive?” He argues that underprivileged groups are going to suffer when decisions will be left to machines. Recall for a moment have happened here in Australia with the Robodebt scheme!
Then there is the threat to jobs. This is already creating anxiety. But AI is also a threat to those who have jobs. Systems can now measure your work rate, so AI can be used to monitor and control people in the workplace. We have seen this in the treatment of the Amazon workforce. Human beings are already being perceived, and used, like robots. It’s not robots taking human jobs, its humans themselves that are now being reduced to the level of a mindless and soulless robot. How will all this impact our collective health and wellbeing?
Toby Walsh Professor of AI at the University of NSW believes that there are only about 10,000 AI engineers with PhDs in the entire world that are driving this revolution. Proportionately, a tiny group instigating the most consequential revolution in history – and most are (white) males. Many among this cohort want to push ahead without any controls or limits. These gung-ho engineers take an ‘accelerate or die’ approach to rapid development.
In case you don’t think that it’s of little significance that most of the engineers are male, you might need to think again. Social Policy Group CEO, Carla Wilshire has written a book, Time to Reboot: Feminism in the Algorithm Age which explores the ways in which algorithms amplify sexism (it’s really worth listening to this 13 minute segment from RN Drive).
At the moment, through echo chambers and filter bubbles, technology appears to be amplifying our very worst tendencies. Social media’s disregard for truth and the magnification of pre-existing prejudices, coupled with the contempt we feel for those who do not share a particular point of view, is causing us to dehumanise the ‘other’ and cease to see them as human like us. Wounding is weaponised through labelling and stigmatisation while the hatred that is generated is then harvested for profit. This is the “cognitive pollution” Pope Francis speaks of.
Pope Francis asks a number of crucial questions regarding the future of AI: |
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"How do we safeguard professionalism and the dignity of workers in the fields of information and communication, together with that of users throughout the world? How do we ensure the interoperability of platforms? How do we enable businesses that develop digital platforms to accept their responsibilities with regard to content and advertising in the same way as editors of traditional communications media? How do we make more transparent the criteria guiding the operation of algorithms for indexing and de-indexing, and for search engines that are capable of celebrating or canceling persons and opinions, histories and cultures? How do we guarantee the transparency of information processing? How do we identify the paternity of writings and the traceability of sources concealed behind the shield of anonymity? How do we make it clear whether an image or video is portraying an event or simulating it? How do we prevent sources from being reduced to one alone, thus fostering a single approach, developed on the basis of an algorithm? How instead do we promote an environment suitable for preserving pluralism and portraying the complexity of reality? How can we make sustainable a technology so powerful, costly and energy-consuming? And how can we make it accessible also to developing countries?" |
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How we answer these questions will determine whether we will herald a new age of freedom, or, of slavery. It will be up to us to decide “whether we will become fodder for algorithms or will nourish our hearts with that freedom without which we cannot grow in wisdom … Only together can we increase our capacity for discernment and vigilance and for seeing things in the light of their fulfilment.”
It is “only by adopting a spiritual way of viewing reality, only by recovering a wisdom of the heart, can we confront and interpret the newness of our time and rediscover the path to a fully human communication.” From Pope Francis’s perspective, such wisdom will come from “awakening humanity from the slumber induced by the illusion of omnipotence, based on the belief that we are completely autonomous and self-referential subjects, detached from all social bonds and forgetful of our status as creatures”. I can hear St Ignatius applauding his wisdom and insight (see ‘The Principle and Foundation’ in The Spiritual Exercises No.23). So, let's follow Ignatius and Pope Francis and "awake from our slumber"! |
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MAGESTERIUM AI |
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Have you tried MAGESTERIUM AI?
This is the Vatican’s AI service and is very useful for teachers, pastors and researchers. I would encourage you to try it out. This is what it promises on the Home Page: “Whether you’re seeking answers on Church teaching, conducting research, or just trying to save some time, Magisterium AI is at your disposal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
I typed in “what does the Church teach about artificial intelligence (AI)?" The answer was very good on the first go. I then typed, “what does Pope Francis teach about artificial intelligence?” The answers were much sharper; the responses were numbered, concise, accurate and clear and appropriately referenced. Full marks! |
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“… Unjust social structures that lead to hunger and marginalisation, racism that devalues people because of the colour of their skin, and weapons that kill faceless victims on the other side of the globe are all still challenges for humanity in the twenty-first century. In his reflection, Arrupe narrowed down the causes of injustice, explaining, ‘The diagnosis of war as well as that of violence is the result of a single violence, hatred’. It is not that bombs or drones are evil, nor developing the technology that makes them possible. The enemy is in the hearts of human beings who preach hatred and use it as a weapon of control and destruction. Arrupe continues, ‘The antidote for hate is called love … which is the most precious quality of the human person’ …” |
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Do you feel a calling to become a Giver of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius? If you do, consider joining us in the Arrupe Program in 2025. |
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We are accepting applications for 2025. If you feel you have a calling to become a spiritual director in the Ignatian tradition, we would be very happy to hear from you. Details of our program can be viewed on our website.
I can be contacted directly at michael.loughnane@arrupe.org.au.
The Arrupe Program is separate from, but collaborates closely with the Spiritual Direction course at ACU. Most of our students study at ACU as part of their formation to become givers of the Spiritual Exercises.
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Would you like to study spiritual direction at the Australian Catholic University? |
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Develop knowledge, understanding and the foundational skills suited to the ethical, self-aware and safe practice of spiritual direction in the Ignatian tradition by enrolling in the Graduate Diploma in Spiritual Direction, or, the Master of Spiritual Direction. |
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Podcasts On The Theme Of Artificial Intelligence |
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The Reith Lectures with Stuart Russell:
The Biggest Event in Human History
Stuart Russell explores the risks AI might pose for the future. In this first lecture he explains what led him – alongside Professor Stephen Hawking to say that “success would be the biggest event in human history … and perhaps the last event in human history.” Stuart is hopeful that humanity and AI can coexist successfully. His second lecture covers AI in warfare and is more than a little unsettling. The third lecture is on AI in the Economy, and if you are concerned about whether or not your job is threatened by AI you might like to listen to this one. The final lecture focuses the possible futures that might await us. Every one of these lectures is deeply engaging and profoundly thought-provoking.
Most striking quote in Episode One: “Talking of ruining the world, let’s look at social media content-selection algorithms, the ones that choose items for your newsfeed or the next video to watch. They aren’t particularly intelligent, but they have more power over people’s cognitive intake than any dictator in history." |
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"Scarier than killer robots": why your mind isn't ready for AI
On, All in the Mind, ABC Radio National
Cognitive Neuroscientist Joel Pearson (University of New South Wales) walks you through the many ways artificial intelligence is messing — and will mess — with our psychology.
From falling in love with AI to unforgettable deep fakes, this is a look into an uncertain future and what you can do to prepare for it.
The presenter (Sana Qadar) is a little trendy and supercilious in her presentation style, but the content of this short podcast is riveting – and vitally important. |
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Jung in the World | Technology & the Self 2: Finding Ourselves in a Digital Culture with Elizabeth Nelson
Elizabeth Eowyn Nelson, explores the value of Jungian thought in our tech-centric age. She brings a wealth of insight to our contemporary moment, exploring what it means to pursue personal growth in a digital culture. There is also another excellent interview in this series on technology and the self with Meghan O’Gieblyn where O’Gieblyn talks about consciousness and the self in a machine age. |
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Poem On The Theme Of Artificial Intelligence |
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There are many possible interpretations of this wonderful poem by Wisława Szymborska. I include it here as a warning. Much of the hype and rhetoric around AI smacks of a yearning for some sort of a utopia – there are some who believe AI will cure every ill and make life perfect for all of us. Of course, this is nonsense – and dangerous. I love the way Szymborska builds the sense that everything is perfect on this Island; but in the end no one wants to be there! The heart yeans for something much richer than sterile perfection. It draws us to dive into “unfathomable life”. |
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Utopia
By Wisława Szymborska
Island where all becomes clear.
Solid ground beneath your feet.
The only roads are those that offer access.
Bushes bend beneath the weight of proofs.
The Tree of Valid Supposition grows here
with branches disentangled since time immemorial.
The Tree of Understanding, dazzlingly straight and simple,
sprouts by the spring called Now I Get It.
The thicker the woods, the vaster the vista:
the Valley of Obviously.
If any doubts arise, the wind dispels them instantly.
Echoes stir unsummoned
and eagerly explain all the secrets of the worlds.
On the right a cave where Meaning lies.
On the left the Lake of Deep Conviction.
Truth breaks from the bottom and bobs to the surface.
Unshakable Confidence towers over the valley.
Its peak offers an excellent view of the Essence of Things.
For all its charms, the island is uninhabited,
and the faint footprints scattered on its beaches
turn without exception to the sea.
As if all you can do here is leave
and plunge, never to return, into the depths.
Into unfathomable life. |
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Books On The Theme Of Artificial Intelligence |
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Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control
By Stuart Russell
If you have listened to Stuart Russell deliver the Reith lectures, you might well be tempted by this book. Human Compatible is a humane book about the challenges and opportunities of AI. It’s also a clear and level-headed, non-hype analysis of the place of AI in our present and future times. As he does in the Reith lectures (see Podcasts), Russell argues that catastrophic future scenarios can be avoided. AI has a great potential to do good and to help us solve problems, but the point is not that it or anybody will ever know best, but rather that we should ensure the values and tendencies encoded into powerful systems are compatible with human thriving, and the thriving of life on this planet. It is a positive and optimistic take on AI – but a lot of things must go right for his future vision to become a reality. |
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Religious and Cultural Implications of Technology-Mediated Relationships in a Post-Pandemic World
By Ilia Delio & Noreen Herzfeld (Editors)
In many ways a confronting set of essays. I don’t know quite what to think of Ilia Delio – Franciscan nun, scientist, and futurist – is she a prophet, or is she blinded by the allure of technology? The jury is out as far as I am concerned, as I see in her writings a real reluctance to acknowledge the clear and present dangers that our unquestioning embrace of technology pose for all of us. The conclusion to her closing essay in this book communicates her positive vision:
“Technology awakens something vital and dynamic in us. The world is in the process of becoming something more than what it is, but it takes a conscious awareness of belonging to the whole in order to creatively evolve toward greater wholeness. God is at the heart of this evolutionary process, the hidden power and potential to create, invent and discover. Rather than seeing technology as a detriment to human thinking or human relationships, situating technology within the wider flow of evolution allows us to assess its significance in the divinization of human life. … Technology is not our problem; it is our solution to a new world of deepened relationships. How we make sense of the emerging matrix of global networked life is our challenge today which will affect our world of tomorrow.”
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Lord of the World
By Robert Hugh Benson
This book was penned in 1907 so it is not about machine learning as such, but I have included it as its message is rather prescient. I had never heard of this book until 2018 when I read that it was one of Pope Francis’ favourite books, (interestingly, it was also a favourite of Pope Benedict XVI); so, I went to the now defunct Book Depository, purchased it, and read it that summer. A sobering book, and not dissimilar to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is ostensibly about what Pope Francis calls “ideological colonisation” and the “globalisation of hegemonic uniformity.” Reading the book reminded me powerfully of Ignatius’ Rules for the Discernment of Spirits, particularly Rule 4 of the Second Week Rules where Ignatius warns: “It is the characteristic of the bad angel to assume the form of ’an angel of light”. In the light of some of the possible futures that AI will herald, this is book has a message worth pondering.
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Articles On The Theme Of Artificial Intelligence |
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND PEACE: MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR THE 57th WORLD DAY OF PEACE, 1 JANUARY 2024
By Pope Francis
A profound and insightful theological reflection on the role of AI in the contemporary world.
An excerpt:
“We rightly rejoice and give thanks for the impressive achievements of science and technology, as a result of which countless ills that formerly plagued human life and caused great suffering have been remedied. At the same time, techno-scientific advances, by making it possible to exercise hitherto unprecedented control over reality, are placing in human hands a vast array of options, including some that may pose a risk to our survival and endanger our common home. … The remarkable advances in new information technologies, particularly in the digital sphere, thus offer exciting opportunities and grave risks, with serious implications for the pursuit of justice and harmony among peoples. Any number of urgent questions need to be asked. What will be the consequences, in the medium and long term, of these new digital technologies? And what impact will they have on individual lives and on societies, on international stability and peace?” |
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE A Theological Approach
By Calum Samuelson
A thoughtful reflection on the intersection between theology and AI:
An excerpt:
"As AI becomes increasingly common, it is important to remember that love always prioritises the other. AI may help people feel happier, be more efficient, obtain more knowledge and even feel more ethical, but if it does not improve human relationships, it is ultimately misdirected. Accordingly, people should be very cautious about seeking to outsource or automate the most common and apparently mundane manners in which they give themselves in love to others. The simple gift of listening is rapidly being replaced by AI. The command to weep with those weep (Romans 12:15) is being threatened Love always prioritises the other by AI tools that detect our mood and tell us how to fix it. … |
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fAIth: The most avid believers in artificial intelligence are aggressively secular – yet their language is eerily religious. Why?
By Beth Singler
A very engaging and thought-provoking article – and a little bit scary!
An Excerpt:
“Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion’, and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make.” |
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Mystic Heart: Union with God |
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Spiritual Direction Formation Programme for spiritual directors and those interested in contemplation, 10-11 August, 2024
Dr Kerrie Hide
(Offered in-person at Santa Casa Queenscliff, Victoria and online)
In this Mystic Heart formation offering, we will explore the Christian tradition of mystical union, delving into language such as the prayer of union, transformation of the soul in God, the unitive way, ecstatic union, mystical marriage, oneing, living in Christ, Trinitarian indwelling, boundless fulfilment, beatific vision, and deification. In particular we will focus on the naturally kenotic nature of contemplative prayer and the nuances of language such as yielding, surrendering, releasing, descending, emptying, voiding, abandoning, pouring and flowing. The sacred role of suffering in this transforming union will be explored. Attention will also be given to how spiritual directors may facilitate, in the spiritual direction encounter, the dissolving of binary thought patterns that compartmentalize ways of knowing, awaken new sensitivities to the touchings of Spirit, finetune the artistry of discernment, and support the one praying in surrendering into an ever deepening and expanding, evolving, oneing in Love. |
| REGISTER + MORE INFO |
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The Spiritual Exercises - all forms |
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Discover God’s unique love for us
Becoming free
To love and serve in all things
The Spiritual Exercises can be made in the following ways:
Full Spiritual Exercises in silence over 33 days →
Full Spiritual Exercises in daily life over 30+ weeks →
First Spiritual Exercises over four weeks in daily life →
Concise Spiritual Exercises over 4 months →
Spiritual Exercises in silent retreats over 3 to 8 days → |
Ignatian Silent Directed Retreats 2024 |
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Our JISA team of Spiritual Directors warmly welcome you to come and rest, contemplate, pray, and discern, in our Ignatian Silent Directed Retreats.
Retreats are available in Sevenhill in South Australia, Pymble in New South Wales, Kew in Victoria, and Ormiston in Queensland. There are retreats of 2 days (2 nights), 4 days (5 nights), 6 days (7 nights) or 8 days (9 nights). |
| EXPLORE |
Weekend Retreats – SA, VIC, NSW, QLD |
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Explore a wide array of weekend retreats with a mix of silence and themed inputs such as discernment, we look forward to welcoming you… |
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I am a Tree of Life – Online Retreat |
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Deepen your spiritual roots, grow new branches, flower in your desires for service and increase the fruit of your spiritual life. An online retreat experience – over eight Monday nights leading up to and during Season of Creation this year. Spiritual exercises and conversations, using the life of a tree as a metaphor for an organic spirituality. |
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On the Way – Online Retreat in Daily Life |
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This online retreat in daily life offers you an opportunity to walk with your own experience, to reflect on God who companions you and to discern the movements of the Spirit calling you onward in your everyday experience. Based on the dynamic of the Spiritual Exercises, the retreat process incorporates the Ignatian tools of the Awareness Examen, Contemplative Prayer and Ignatian Discernment. |
| EXPLORE |
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Grant me, O Lord, to see everything now with new eyes, to discern and test the spirits that help me read the signs of the times, to relish the things that are yours, and to communicate them to others.
Give me the clarity of understanding that you gave Ignatius
(Pedro Arrupe) |
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