AI developers must partner with faith communities on values

The debate over whether religion can make AI more moral has often focused on whether artificial systems can develop genuine virtue through spiritual mechanisms. However, the core issue is not whether AI can replicate human moral transformation through spiritual practice—which is impossible given that AI lacks a body, consciousness, and emotional capacity. Instead, the critical question concerns human agency: who decides what values and moral assumptions are encoded into the AI systems that now influence major decisions across societies.

The scale of this influence is already substantial. According to a 2025 global Ipsos survey, 53% of respondents report that AI has already changed their lives, and two-thirds expect further societal transformation in coming years. This widespread integration of AI into decision-making—across healthcare, criminal justice, hiring, lending, and public policy—means that the moral traditions and assumptions embedded in these systems by their developers will shape outcomes for billions of people. Faith communities, which have historically preserved and transmitted moral wisdom across generations, represent repositories of ethical frameworks that could inform how developers choose to design and deploy AI systems.