Theological Foundations for Moral Artificial Intelligence Mark Graves
[email protected] Abstract A theological anthropology for artificial intelligence (AI) can improve the increasing integration of AI within society by clarifying uncertainty about AI in relation to human nature. To help coordinate the different, underlying philosophical assumptions made by scholars, engineers, and social scientists involved in AI development or study, three theological anthropologies are adapted for AI drawing upon Continental (Heideggerian), Thomistic, and pragmatic philosophy to focus on AI subjectivity, soul, and self, respectively. Within that multi-faceted anthropology, reconciling Xavier Zubiri’s apprehension of reality with Thomas Aquinas’s ideogenesis addresses AI’s dualist and reductionist barriers to meaningful conceptualization and interpretation of experience. A theological anthropology for moral AI integrates Ignacio Ellacuria’s ethical stake in the apprehension of historical reality into a systems framework capable of modeling AI’s external reality and internal self-reflection at multiple levels of awareness. Modeling AI’s interpretive experience and internal awareness of its causal and moral agency can help moral AI resolve conflicts between its normative values (e.g., prima facie duties) and develop the practical wisdom (phronesis) needed to apply its general moral models. [173 of 150-200 words] Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine ethics, phronesis, systems theory, theological anthropology Note to Reader This paper is planned for