AI developers must partner with faith communities on values

In a recent essay in the New York Times, David DeSteno, a psychology professor at Northeastern University, posed a provocative question: Can religion make AI more moral? DeSteno acknowledged that religion draws its transformative power not from doctrine or scripture, but from physical rituals such as fasting, breathwork and communal prayer. Because AI has no body and no capacity for compassion, gratitude or moral struggle, he argued, these mechanisms lie beyond its reach.

However, DeSteno's own analysis points to a deeper problem beneath the surface framing. While the argument that AI cannot be made virtuous in the way that a meditating monk is transformed through spiritual practice is compelling, it misidentifies where the real moral question lies. The genuine issue is not whether AI can achieve virtue, but rather who determines the values embedded in the AI systems that now shape how billions of people make decisions and which moral traditions and assumptions those systems ultimately reflect.

The urgency of this question is underscored by recent data. According to a 2025 global Ipsos survey, 53% of respondents said AI has already changed their lives, while two-thirds expect it to change society even further in the coming years. This widespread integration of AI into everyday decision-making—spanning finance, healthcare, criminal justice, hiring, education, and public policy—means that the moral frameworks encoded into these systems will have profound consequences for human societies. This recognition prompted discussion at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 18, where the conversation centered on the need for AI developers to work together with faith communities to ensure that their systems embody the shared values that have long shaped human societies.

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.

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