Artificial Intelligence and the Human Person

A seminar on Artificial Intelligence (AI) was held at Santa Clara University (Silicon Valley, California) from April 3-5, 2019, sponsored by the China Forum for Civilizational Dialogue (an institution born from the joint commitment of La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University) and the Pontifical Council for Culture. The event was hosted by the Tech & the Human Spirit Initiative at Santa Clara. The meeting brought together, in addition to the two authors of these reflections, another 11 participants, scholars from China, the United States and Europe, to examine how the great changes underway are posing challenges to the Christian and Confucian traditions, as well as to other religious and secular traditions.[1 The enormous progress made in the last 10 years in the field of AI marks a historical discontinuity. China and the West have just begun to address the implications. In the long term, the AI revolution could redefine several fundamental philosophical questions: If machines surpass humans in intelligence, what will become of human uniqueness, dignity and freedom? Will computers become "aware" and "creative"?