WATCHING children today, it is striking how instinctively they turn to technology. They know how to find shortcuts in seconds and if there’s an option to speak rather than type, many will choose it.
It’s not a criticism; every generation embraces the tools available to it. But it does raise questions.
Hardly a week passes without another announcement about what artificial intelligence can do. There are obvious benefits. In medicine, it is helping researchers accelerate discoveries. In education, it can provide support tailored to individual needs. For anyone trying to understand a complex topic, it can be a useful research tool. Used well, it has the potential to improve lives.
Yet there is also a growing unease about where AI is heading. That concern lies at the heart of Magnifica Humanitas, the first encyclical of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate. Published recently, the major papal letter, addressed not only to Catholics but to society as a whole, reflects on how artificial intelligence should be guided if human dignity, work, truth and the common good are to remain at the centre of public life.
The Bishop of Raphoe, Niall Coll, reflected on the encyclical in a recent piece for The Irish News and what was most striking about his analysis is that he moved the debate beyond the simple question of whether AI is good or bad.
Instead, he pointed to the deeper questions the Church is asking: who is shaping this technology, and in whose interests? They are fair questions.
For all the discussion about artificial intelligence, there remains a remarkable amount that most of us do not know. We hand over information and ask questions of systems we barely understand, without knowing what data they keep or how the answers we receive are formed.
Part of the unease stems from the speed of change as AI moves into workplaces, schools and everyday life faster than most previous technologies. And yet, none of these concerns is entirely new.
Every major technological advance has prompted fears about how people learn and think. Television was accused of discouraging reading in the 1950s and 60s. Calculators were said to undermine mental arithmetic, while the Internet was criticised for shortening attention spans and contributing to misinformation.
Some fears were an exaggeration but others turned out to be well founded. Few would argue that the Internet, for example, left the way we consume information unchanged. Yet even with those changes, people were still largely required to weigh evidence, compare viewpoints and reach their own conclusions.
Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, can bypass much of that journey. It does not simply provide information. It increasingly provides conclusions. Sometimes that’s incredibly useful. But if young people become too reliant on handing every task over to a system, there’s a danger that they miss out on more than the task itself.
Researching, questioning, making mistakes and working towards an answer all have value. That is often where confidence and understanding develop.
For schools, the greatest challenge may not be teaching children how to use AI, because most will learn that naturally. The challenge will be ensuring that convenience does not come at the expense of curiosity, effort or independent thought.
Indeed, questions raised about AI’s popularity extend far beyond the classroom. Concerns are already emerging about its impact on employment, particularly for younger workers entering the jobs market.
Earlier this year, figures showed graduate vacancies in Ireland running 13 per cent lower than the previous year. Department of Finance research found early evidence that AI is weakening opportunities for some young graduates.
Bishop Coll also points to concerns around accountability, governance and environmental sustainability.
Ireland’s rapidly growing network of data centres now consumes more than one fifth of the country’s electricity. At a time when households and businesses are being encouraged to think carefully about energy use, that raises legitimate questions.
There’s no getting away from the fact that AI will likely prove to be more transformative than the Internet. But the real challenge is whether society can guide its development wisely.
Pope Leo’s encyclical and Bishop Coll’s reflections are not arguments against innovation. They are a reminder that people must remain at the centre of it. The question, then, is not simply what AI can do, but what kind of future we are allowing it to shape.
The Fresh Take column, written by Sabrina Sweeney, features every Thursday in the Donegal News.