As I tirelessly point out, AI doesn't just mean lost jobs. Now the arms manufacturers want in on the deal. Isn't war already horrible enough?
By Philip Kosloski
The United States recently signed an agreement with OpenAI that gives the Department of War access to their technology.
With new wars raging around the world, the race to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in warfare has begun to escalate as well.
The United States was initially in talks with the AI company Anthropic, but CEO Dario Amodei released a statement that said, "Today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons ... We will not knowingly provide a product that puts America’s warfighters and civilians at risk.”
After Anthropic removed itself from consideration, the United States made an agreement with OpenAI. The details of the agreement have been posted online, but much of the implementation behind it is classified.
This means that warfare will look much different in the coming days, weeks, and months as the United States and other countries around the world work to deploy AI in battle.
The Vatican is very clear on its stance regarding the use of artificial intelligence in warfare. This is written out in the document, Antiqua et nova:
While AI’s analytical abilities could help nations seek peace and ensure security, the “weaponization of Artificial Intelligence” can also be highly problematic. Pope Francis has observed that “the ability to conduct military operations through remote control systems has led to a lessened perception of the devastation caused by those weapon systems and the burden of responsibility for their use, resulting in an even more cold and detached approach to the immense tragedy of war.”
Furthermore, the Vatican has stated that AI weapons in particular should be banned:
Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems, which are capable of identifying and striking targets without direct human intervention, are a “cause for grave ethical concern” because they lack the “unique human capacity for moral judgment and ethical decision-making.” For this reason, Pope Francis has urgently called for a reconsideration of the development of these weapons and a prohibition on their use, starting with “an effective and concrete commitment to introduce ever greater and proper human control. No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being.”
Pope Leo XIV has had similar reactions to the use of AI, and has asked that countries do not use AI in the modern arena of war:
There is even a growing tendency among political and military leaders to shirk responsibility, as decisions about life and death are increasingly “delegated” to machines. This marks an unprecedented and destructive betrayal of the legal and philosophical principles of humanism that underlie and safeguard every civilization. It is necessary to denounce the enormous concentrations of private economic and financial interests that are driving States in this direction.
Despite these warnings, nations are racing, hoping that they will be the first ones to use artificial intelligence on the battlefield.
Let us pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Peace.
St Katharine Drexel, whose Feast was on Tuesday, founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to serve Black and Indigenous communities.
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By Philip Kosloski
Beyond the three vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience, she took a fourth vow of Service to the “Indian and Black Races.”St. Katharine Drexel didn't want to become an ordinary religious sister. She wanted to dedicate her life to the service of minorities in the United States of America.
According to Sister Eleanor McCann, RSM, on the St. Katharine Drexel Shrine website, "Katharine, who was following the plight of the Native groups, saw the injustices they were suffering at the hands of the federal government. She noted, as well, the severe racial injustices and torture of Black people in the South, for whom she grieved."
Both of these injustices tore at her heart and she was resolved to help them in some way.
Initially this led her to join the Novitiate of the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She joined with the confidence that she would found her own religious congregation that would help these minorities.
In fact, she even took a fourth vow, which was not required by the Sisters of Mercy.
McCann explains, "She would not only take the three vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience, but a fourth vow of Service to the 'Indian and Black Races.'”
Eventually she was able to found the Congregation of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and went to work to specifically serve these people in the United States.
She blazed a trail west, ministering to the Native Americans and African Americans so severely treated by much of the population. By the end of her life she’d established well over 100 missions, 50 schools for African American children and 12 schools for Native Americans.
Her work wasn't always welcomed, and she was even threatened by the KKK. However, St. Katharine was never dissuaded and was firm in her conviction to help the most despised groups of society.
