Book Bites: Word on Fire's Evangelization & Culture "artificial intelligence"

A review of the magazine issue from the Bishop Barron-led Word on Fire Institute.

A beautifully-produced magazine that serves as just the barest of introductions to Artificial Intelligence and its intersection with faith, philosophy, and culture, this issue suffers from repetition and extension. Five key articles from leading thinkers in the Catholic/WoF-sphere combine with AI-framed regular "columns" to present a view of skeptical of the broader claims of Artificial Intelligence boomers.

Bishop Barron introduces the issue with a short column highlighting the essential fact that AI is not true intelligence but instead a creation, one prone to idolatry and widespread misuse as a tool. This theme is echoed as the story of St. Dymphna is relayed as one offering respite and hope amidst AI-caused anxiety. The rest of the issue essentially continues this theme - offering short insights but nothing deeper or truly engaging.

Pieces include an oddly-written introduction to a future work entitled Hamlet's Mirror, which I hope offers more than this short piece does. There is a brief survey of film and AI that seems generated by a large language model which is followed by the customary have AI write about AI piece that went out of vogue two years ago.

The heart of the issue is a deep reflection republished from the work of Dietrich von Hilderand on "Technology and It's Danger." The brief excerpt - nine pages in this wide-spaced publication - serves as a bit of philosophical grounding for the ideas expressed at the beginning. Additional engagement with this piece - to place it deeper in the context of AI - or to bring its themes more into our present moment would have been a good use for the following pages. Instead von Hildrebrand's focus on the dehumanizing and thus de-liturgizing nature of technology is carried forward only in this same publication.

A brief introduction to how AI functions follows - oddly placed in the middle of this work - that ably summarizes the developments which have led to large language models, while highlighting the lack of true "intelligence" AI offers. The next twenty pages is then an interview and exposition of art in the age of AI featuring a dialogue with a real artist! This engagement with AI continues with a brief overview of AI in the realm of education - but the short and shallow nature of this article left me wanting more.

The next two pieces are investigations of what AI means in a deeper philosophical and theological sense. One tackles AI and the threat of prediction, statics, and big data; focusing on the problem of true freedom. The second is the deepest, new look at what AI means - focusing on what the Catholic Church can offer anthropologitically speaking in the age of AI. Dr. Joseph Vukov posits three choices for the Church with AI: dismissing, embracing, or educating a greater truth. His discussion of gnosticism and reductionism grounds this conversation in the historical and theological tradition of the Church, showing that the basic assumptions of this age have been encountered by and engaged with in the past.

The issue finishes with a reflection on being a writer by Haley Stewart, a rather disappointing piece by Dr. Edward Feser whose clarity and intellect should have been featured in a longer space, and a wonderful excerpt from the unrelated-to-AI work "Princesses of Heaven."

In the end, I'm not sure the issue offers anything new to those engaged with the intersection of Catholicism and artificial intelligence; but might serve as an entry point for those willing to pay for the high publication costs of the journal.