Automation and Augmentation in Theological Perspective

Abstract AI enables forms of automation that threaten unemployment and deskilling, eliminating important opportunities for the development of virtue. The concomitant loss of virtue and meaningful employment makes it a theological problem from the perspective of Catholic social teaching and theological anthropology. These problems arise in part from a design paradigm that encourages forms of AI that replace humans. This essay suggests that an alternative design paradigm that encourages programs that augment rather than replace human action can support the development of virtue and mitigate many of the problems posed by AI in the workplace. Even so, a Human Augmentation framework can itself go astray if driven by an incorrect anthropology inspired by transhumanism or bureaucratic imperatives. It is therefore necessary for theological ethics to engage in specific design discussions using the resources of theological anthropology and virtue ethics.