Senior rabbi tells Vatican: tech should be partner of religion, not adversary

Speaking at a conference on AI and Ethics at the Holy See, Rabbi David Rosen offered an olive branch to the much-vilified firms

A senior rabbi speaking at an AI ethics conference at the Vatican has suggested that technology companies should become “partners” of religion – not enemies.

Rabbi David Rosen made the comments – which he described as potentially “heretical” – during an interfaith session on “why religions need to be at the forefront of pursuing a human-centred technological development”.

The conference, organised in part by the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, featured influential Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious leaders as well as captains of the technology industry, with sessions preceded by representatives of the three faiths signing a document promoting “algorethics”.

Speakers included Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah, president of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace; Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, president of Zaytuna College in Berkeley; former Spanish foreign minister Ana Palacio; and the Vatican’s Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia.

Others included Chief Rabbi Eliezer Simha Weisz of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate, and law school professor Aviad Hacohen, while from the world of industry there was Microsoft president Brad Smith and IBM vice-president Dario Gil.

Rosen, a former chief rabbi of Ireland, serves on the boards of interfaith organisations around the world, including as the American Jewish Committee’s international director of interreligious affairs. Before this, he headed the International Jewish Committee for Inter-religious Consultations.

Taking a somewhat contrarian view compared to others who had been discussing “the role of religion in mitigating the abuse and excess of technology and of Artificial Intelligence (AI),” he said: “As representatives of religion, we need to face up to the fact that religion has not been without abuse in its history.

“The sages of the Talmud even say that religion can be the elixir of death if it’s not expressed in the appropriate way. And I think technology has a very significant role in challenging religion in terms of providing for accountability and transparency.

“Therefore, we should look at areas where there can be greater partnership and collaboration between the technological and the religious worlds.”