Church should not demonize AI – Head of UGCC

This was stated by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), during a meeting with the staff of Ukrinform.

“I myself use artificial intelligence – I have the ChatGPT app on my phone. We are dealing with a phenomenon that is constantly changing and evolving. We do not fully understand what exactly we are dealing with, but we cannot run away from it,” Sviatoslav noted.

According to the Head of the UGCC, from a moral standpoint, most things created by humans are neutral and can be used either for good or for evil. “Our challenge is to learn how to use these technologies for good,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized.

He also drew attention to the fact that a significant part of human life has already moved into the virtual realm, which became especially evident during the pandemic. At the same time, he stressed that no digital format can replace live, personal communication.

“We need personal encounters, eye contact, the living word. The online space has become an important part of our lives, but offline communication remains irreplaceable,” the Head of the UGCC stressed.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav recalled that the Vatican has repeatedly discussed the issue of evangelizing the digital space, which was previously referred to as a “new continent.” “In reality, it is not a continent but a dimension of our life – a space in which we spend a huge amount of time and which needs to be filled with spiritual content,” he said.

Separately, the Head of the UGCC addressed the moral challenges associated with the development of cutting-edge medical technologies and the cybernetization of the human body. According to him, such technologies can simultaneously serve as a means of helping the wounded and the sick, while also raising serious ethical questions.

“On the one hand, these are prosthetics for soldiers and assistance for the wounded. On the other hand, it is medicine that increasingly does not heal but replaces. Whether this is right remains an open question,” he noted.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav also emphasized that technologies are already influencing worldviews and even people’s perception of their own bodies, which poses a serious challenge to culture and to Christian reflection on reality.

“We live in interesting times. Religiosity will also change in its forms of experience and expression. Our task is not to be afraid of new phenomena, but to accept them as the reality in which we are called to carry out our ministry,” the Head of the UGCC concluded.

As reported by Ukrinform, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, met with the staff of Ukrinform to discuss the role of journalists during the war, the evolution of relations with the Vatican, Russian propaganda, and even artificial intelligence.