Asian Values in the Moral Debate for AI Governance

Should AI answer to a higher, moral authority?

With the first papal presence at a G-7 summit meeting this year, the debate about man vs machine has only intensified. During the summit in Italy in June, Pope Francis warned that uncontrolled development and reliance on artificial intelligence would be destructive to civilization itself.

 “We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines,” he stated before the leaders of the world’s richest nations. “We need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs: Human dignity itself depends on it.”

In light of Pope Francis’ high-profile participation, it’s worth noting that Japan remains not only the sole non-Western country of the G-7, but also the only nation in the group that does not have a cultural foundation based on Christianity, let alone Catholicism. To be sure, the six other member countries are also secular democracies that espouse the freedom of religious belief. Yet in the United States, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, and Italy, Christmas remains a national holiday, and Judeo-Christian values continue to provide the guiding principles of their justice systems and the ethics that bind their societies together.

In the Indo-Pacific, including in Japan, however, December 25 is just another day on the calendar, and Christianity remains a minority religion, even though it has played a not insignificant part in shaping the norms of societies across the region. For instance, an outsized number of educational institutions, especially in secondary and tertiary levels for women, continue to be influenced by the legacy of missionaries in the field. Still, when it comes to social values, it is Confucianist principles that resonate more strongly and bind those in East Asia. Indeed, a more authoritative religious figure to offer moral clarity for the subregion could potentially be the Dalai Lama, rather than the Pope.

But the Indo-Pacific is diverse not only in its stages of economic development, but in its religious beliefs and indeed values. So as the G-7 seeks to enhance its legitimacy and influence as a gathering of countries focused on cross-border issues, it should be mindful of the diversity of the moral compass as it reaches out to the Global South.

In South and Southeast Asia, Christianity is a minority religion and looked to with trepidation, if not outright hostility. Concern from Muslim majority countries, including Indonesia, over the past year has been particularly striking as religious favoritism by Western powers show no signs of waning.

It is therefore imperative to acknowledge the differences in values that stem from divergent religions and ideologies, even when advancing rules for technology governance. At the latest summit meeting in Borgo Egnazia, countries including Algeria, Kenya, and Mauritania were invited to join the world’s richest nations. To be sure, the United States remains at the forefront of developing AI and U.S.-based companies including Open AI as well as Google and Meta are the driving force of shaping advanced technology. Still, as global competition for AI development intensifies on the one hand, and use of the technology expands worldwide, the values that underpin what humanity ultimately wants from advanced technology are not universal.

Just as there is an ever-increasing overlap between national security concerns and economic interests, questions regarding morality and the human spirit are becoming increasingly intertwined with the governance of AI. Developing technologies that ultimately have a goal of enhancing efficiencies are not a natural partner to philosophical and indeed religious debate. But as the advancement of AI leads to more concerns about what is right and wrong, there is a growing need to acknowledge and include the divergent ideologies that provide the ethical foundations governing societies.

By addressing the moral quandary posed by AI, Pope Francis has brought the moral challenges that are posed by advanced technology. The ethics of AI and what humanity expects from technology will be a growing challenge for the world, and the voices to bring those moral qualms to the forefront should not be limited to a single religious figure or indeed a religious group.