Spiritual Direction and AI: Implications and Considerations

Description

Spiritual Direction and AI: Implications and Considerations

Hosted by Rev Dr Simon Cross

This session will provide a non-technical overview of what AI can and can't do holistically, but with particular attention to the range of issues and implications in its practical use as a tool for spiritual direction and the questions spiritual directors should keep in mind, both for their own use of AI or its use by those they direct. Grounded in a theological framework, the session will cover the range of spiritual "affordances" AI introduces and enables (where affordance means both the direct and indirect features of AI and some of their most significant consequences). Though not dismissing the potential benefits of using AI for spiritual direction, the aim of this session is to equip you a clearer sense of both the limits and risks of such use as a helpful counterweight to a secular culture of imposition (AI forced on users), AI determinism (technology as a historically unstoppable force) and AI boosterism (ignore the risks and emphasise the imagined benefits). There will be breakout discussions and time for questions.

Rev Dr Simon Cross is a consultant and advisor on AI. His previous role encompassed the policy, regulatory, theological, ethical and contextual aspects of AI, working on behalf of the Bishop of Oxford and the Church of England's Faith in Public Life team. He has provided bespoke briefings and guest lectured on the theological and practical aspects of AI ecumenically as well as for the Church of England, and across secular UK civil society. Simon's perspective draws heavily on an undergraduate degree in theology; a masters degree that explored the theological dimensions of Einstein's aphorism that "God does not play dice with the universe"; and a D. Phil. from Oxford exploring the theological metaphysics of scientific perspectives on divine action. He believes that AI's most pressing questions all cluster at the intersection between theology, philosophy, science and practice.

Image attribution: Anna Riepe & FARI / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/