Paper short abstract:

Considering the role of AI in the defense of human rights is crucial today, to prevent new injustices against religious freedom, and to take advantage of new digital technologies so as to strengthen the protection of religious freedoms.

Paper long abstract:

Artificial intelligence, in the new forms in which it is developing thanks to the novel architecture of neural networks, is increasingly entering the daily lives of individuals, groups, communities, and institutions, conditioning them, offering new opportunities for human activities to flourish, but at the same time presenting new risks for the generation of asymmetries, inequalities, and injustices. Religion, which permeates the social life of most individuals currently living on the planet, is no exception. Not only in the industrialized and digitally advanced world, but also in all contexts reached by telematic communication, artificial intelligence is changing the way religion is experienced by human beings, triggering new modalities for spirituality, prayer, liturgy, worship, interpretation, and memory. There is no aspect of contemporary religious life that is not at least partially and at least remotely touched by the development of artificial intelligence. This, however, despite the fact that it is often presented or proposed as a sort of new neutral transcendence, is instead a product of human ingenuity, and as such absorbs, often in general unawareness, prejudices and preconceptions. The aim of this paper is not to encourage technological development, but to influence it so that it contributes to the free development of human religious sensitivities. To date, indeed, religious freedoms have had to be defended against hostile attacks by individuals, organizations, or even entire communities or state entities; increasingly, however, these attacks on religious freedoms are not only launched by human agents, but also by machines, which claim to act neutrally when in fact they often absorb human prejudices and intentions.