The Holy See’s Position in Pan-Asian AI Discussions

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant promise of the future; it is a present reality reshaping how societies function, how people work, and how governments interact with their citizens. As these powerful computer systems grow more capable, they bring with them complex questions about fairness, privacy, and human dignity. While much of the early conversation around these technologies happened in the United States and Europe, the rapid rise of AI in Asia has created a unique landscape. Countries in this region face different challenges, from aging populations to distinct cultural values, meaning that solutions developed in the West do not always fit. Recognizing this, the Catholic Church, an institution with deep roots in many Asian nations but also a global perspective, has begun to ask a different kind of question. Instead of simply issuing rules from the top down, the Church is exploring whether it can learn from others. This approach involves bringing together people of different faiths and backgrounds to discuss how technology affects their specific communities, operating on the belief that no single group holds a monopoly on the truth about how to live well in a digital age.

This story centers on a specific effort led by a department of the Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church, which brought together a diverse group of scholars from across Asia to discuss these issues. For more than four years, this group met once a month via video call, gathering researchers from countries including South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, India, and China. The participants were not all Catholics; the group included Buddhists, Muslims, Confucian scholars, and people of other faiths, as well as experts in fields ranging from computer science and law to theology and sociology. Their goal was not to create a single set of rules for everyone to follow, but to understand how the rapid spread of artificial intelligence impacts their specific local contexts. The leader of this group, a scholar from Hong Kong Baptist University, organized these meetings to see if a spirit of cooperation could emerge between people of different traditions when facing a shared technological challenge.

The discussions revealed that while the broad concerns about AI are similar everywhere, the specific problems look very different depending on where you are. In one conversation, the group examined the issue of data labeling, the work of humans who sort and tag information to teach computers. A scholar from Singapore noted that this work often relies on exploited migrant labor, while a participant from the Philippines offered a different perspective. They explained that for many families in the Philippines, working in an air-conditioned office to tag data was actually a more dignified option than the alternative: leaving their families behind to work as domestic helpers or construction workers in wealthier countries. This exchange highlighted a difficult truth: what looks like exploitation from one angle might be a necessary lifeline from another, depending on the local economic reality.

Another meeting focused on the care of elderly people, a pressing issue in countries like China, Japan, and South Korea where birth rates are falling and people are living longer. In these cultures, there is a strong tradition of children caring for their aging parents, a value known as filial piety. The group discussed whether artificial intelligence could replace human caregivers. They found that while a robot might work in a country like the United States, it clashes with deep cultural expectations in East Asia, where personal care from family members is seen as a moral duty. The conversation also uncovered a hidden cost: wealthier Asian nations often hire nurses and caregivers from countries like India and the Philippines to fill their own gaps, which strains the care systems in those poorer nations. This showed how a solution in one country could create a crisis in another.

The group also tackled the use of facial recognition technology by governments. Participants expressed deep concern about how this technology is used to monitor citizens, particularly in China and India. In India, for example, the group discussed how the government uses these systems to track religious minorities, including Christians and Muslims. In contrast, they noted that in Singapore, the primary concern was private companies using personal data to commit bank fraud. These discussions showed that the same technology can be a tool for oppression in one context and a tool for security in another, making it impossible to have a single, global answer to the problem.

Over the course of four and a half years, the group held twenty-nine monthly meetings. While the conversations were often abstract, they led to concrete results. The members organized two major international conferences, one in 2023 and another in 2024, which brought together scholars to discuss these issues. The 2023 conference was notable for being well-attended, occurring shortly after the release of ChatGPT and as Asian countries lifted COVID restrictions. The 2024 conference, sponsored by the dicastery, prioritized dialogue sessions for each talk. These events led to the publication of an edited book on AI ethics in Asia, which was one of the first major texts to focus specifically on the region's unique challenges. The group also produced a collaborative article in a leading technology ethics journal, arguing that ethical guidelines for AI must be rooted in local cultures rather than imposed from the outside. They are currently preparing for a third conference and a special collection of papers focused on how AI affects the most vulnerable people.

The paper concludes that the most important outcome of this project may not be the books or articles, but the relationships built between the scholars. The author notes that while it is difficult to measure the impact of these friendships and shared perspectives, they represent a shift in how the Catholic Church engages with the world. Instead of acting as a sole authority, the Church is positioning itself as a partner in dialogue, listening to non-Christian voices and learning from them. This approach aligns with a new encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIV in 2026, which emphasizes that the Church does not have a monopoly on truth and that solutions to global problems must be found through cooperation across different cultures and faiths. The group's work demonstrates that when people from different backgrounds sit down to discuss a shared problem, they do not just find common ground; they also discover the unique needs of their neighbors, leading to a more nuanced and compassionate understanding of the future.