8 bishops named members of USCCB AI task force, 3 lay Catholics named consultants

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently announced the members of its new task force that will communicate with research groups, labs, academic centers, and other parties about artificial intelligence (AI) and help the Church in the U.S. respond to difficulties and opportunities introduced by AI. 

According to an Oct. 16 USCCB press release, the bishops on the Task Force on Preserving Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence include Bishop Oscar Cantù of San José, who was appointed its chairman and the following other Church leaders: 

• Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago
• Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle
• Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky
• Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond, Virginia
• Bishop James Massa, auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn, New York
• Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas
• Bishop Slawomir Szkredka, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles

Three laypeople have been appointed as consultants to the task force: Charles Camosy, an associate professor of Moral Theology and Ethics at The Catholic University of America; Kim Daniels, the director of Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life; and Meghan Sullivan, a philosophy professor at University of Notre Dame and director for the university’s Ethics Initiative, as well as founding director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. In late 2024, Sullivan directed the Faith-Based Frameworks for AI Ethics, a one-year planning project led by the institute and supported by a grant worth more than $500,000. 

Camosy, an expert in bioethics and Catholic Social Teaching who has written and commented on AI in light of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, said in a statement that he is honored to work with the bishops and consultors on the task force. 

“Bishop Cantú has said that our mandate is to not boil the ocean, but we do have quite a bit of work before us,” Camosy said in a statement published by Catholic University of America. “Many of us have seen firsthand how many different kinds of people and institutions are looking to the Catholic Church to bring moral clarity amid the rapid changes of the AI moment.”

Angelus News highlighted that Bishop Cantú’s diocese encompasses much of Silicon Valley, home to a number of data centers and a major hub of AI development. The expansion of data centers across the U.S. has been a contentious issue, as proponents highlight the everyday benefits of the facilities’ output — supporting GPS systems, data storage, and more — and local residents highlight concerns related to the facilities’ water usage, noise, and natural environment disruption. 

>> How a Virginia diocese is engaging with ‘data center alley’ << 

The USCCB announced the task force in September, in response to Magnifica Humanitas, as Zeale News reported.  

“Drawing on the emerging Catholic engagement with AI, both domestically and internationally, the task force will emphasize that AI must serve human dignity and the common good,” the USCCB Oct. 16 press release highlighted. 

Along with maintaining dialogues with various AI-interested organizations and institutions, the release continued, the task force “will also assist the Catholic Church in the United States in responding faithfully, prudently, and effectively to the opportunities and challenges presented by AI related emerging technologies.”

“Special attention will be given to helping Church leaders understand both the opportunities and risks posed by AI,” the release concluded, “in areas such as education, communications, employment, healthcare, evangelization, governance, and the protection of children and vulnerable persons.”

In a June interview with Busted Halo about engaging with the AI discussion as a Catholic, Camosy underscored the importance of understanding that a human person’s value does not come from how productive he or she is but from being made in the image and likeness of God. He argued that while AI will eventually outpace human persons in efficiency, people’s worth will be unchanged, according to Busted Halo.

“People think, What’s the point of being human? Is humanity about to be abolished, or at least transcended by AI? The only way that could possibly be true is if we have a totally wrong understanding of what makes us valuable,” Camosy said. “That’s where theology comes in, and that’s where I think the Church really has something to say that people want to hear. We matter in ways that AI models can’t, regardless of how powerful they become when it comes to these other kinds of technical and computational things they do.”