Matthew Harvey Sanders, the creator of the most popular Catholic artificial intelligence platform, Magisterium AI, tantalizes the “golden age” possibilities and portends the potential hazards of the society-disrupting technology. 

Tapping into the “two roads diverged at a yellow wood” motif, the founder and CEO of the Toronto-based Longbeard technology company said civilization has a choice to adopt the “golden path” or the “dark path.”

The 43-year-old defines the “golden path” as many choosing to purposefully utilize the extra time freed up by AI and robotics to rededicate themselves to living life more aligned with God’s intention. This could include “being closer to nature, living in community, having bigger families and devoting more time to art and asking life’s big questions through philosophical reflection.”

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Conversely, the “dark path” is the existential crisis that could afflict those who do not possess a strong belief system and the potential embrace of movements like transhumanism, which advocates for alterations and enhancements to human aptitudes beyond the Lord’s natural design.

Throughout July, Sanders has been at work in Rome to collaborate with the Pontifical Gregorian University to establish the Alexandria Digitization Hub to publish the patrimony of the Church online for all to view. By the end of the summer, the goal is for the cutting-edge robotic scanning and integrated AI processing to “have ingested the collective works of all the fathers and doctors of the Church” and “other critical Mediterranean teachings.”

Being immersed in the City of Seven Hills has inspired Sanders to further contemplate how Pope Leo XIV can help inspire the world to choose the more promising path. He suggested that since the Church “has studied the human condition longer than anyone, it is rightly poised to make the biggest impact.”

“I think, more than anything else, (what) will be required of the Pope is to remind human beings what life and civilization are supposed to be all about, oriented towards and ultimately what are the proper measures of true progress,” said Sanders during an extended interview with The Catholic Register. “Cardinal (Thomas) Collins used to always say to me, ‘if you know where you're going, you're more likely to get there.’ ”

If Pope Leo XIV communicates a practical vision of what a flourishing life is during this age in an encyclical or apostolic exhortation, said Sanders, “we can effectively work backwards to ensure that the AI and robotics technologies we're developing are pointed at the most important problems.”

Some pundits have suggested Pope Leo XIV will soon have something to say on AI, perhaps in an encyclical. His predecessor, Pope Francis, has offered warnings in recent years on AI and approved the note "Antiqua et Nova," a "Note on the relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence,” earlier this year before his death. It offers a mutual reflection between the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education that calls for scientific and technological advances to work toward serving mankind and the common good. Several paragraphs in the note are devoted to the distinction between AI and human intelligence.

Sanders said this new technological revolution represents the biggest occasion to break the “modern paradigm” where now both parents have to work constantly to make ends meet, which “takes us away from our primary purpose, which is to worship God and serve others.”

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If the AI and robots conceivably and effectively take charge of servicing the economy and most of the conventional jobs, the hope, said Sanders, is that the technology “will bring about enough prosperity that that'll trickle down and secure people's most fundamental needs.”

While some AI thought leaders Sanders has heard from guess that AI will lead to between 30 to 50 per cent of people being unemployed, he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if it's 80 or 90 per cent.” He believes this because of the competitive nature of capitalism.

Leaders from the U.S., China and other world powers have all uttered statements in recent months about the importance of winning the 21st century by coming out on top in AI and robotics.

Sanders said “if the Church is not successful in its evangelization” amid this mad dash into the future, "this is where things get ugly and (I) think the existential cliff will be real.”  

Dopamine induced by this technology is one of the two primary concerns for Sanders.

“Dopamine in a sense of ‘okay, so I don’t have a job any more,’ ” said Sanders. ‘“They told me I don't have to worry about my mortgage. I'll be fine. Here I am. I've got time on my hands. I don't really know who I am. I haven't even started this journey. My friend is going to do this great game, so maybe I'll just play that for a little while.’ Then the next thing you know is you get caught up in this whole dopamine hit thing, right? Your virtual reality roles, gaming and all your social relations are mediated through technologies.”

Ideally, said Sanders, the Church will do an effective job in reaching out its hand to encourage the person to give faith a try before jumping off that cliff.

Transhumanism looms as a threat because it offers a vision at odds with the Church’s vision of human flourishing, said Sanders.

“These AI robotics technologies could be about helping us get to Mars or helping us become immortal,” said Sanders. “There's a real risk of a lot of technological elites who feel this is something that these technologies should be directed towards. Again, kind of like with the dopamine hits, it's a fantasy. We're not going to live forever. If we don't really have purpose in our lives, and meaning, it won't really matter if we do live 200 years, we're still going to feel empty.”

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Encouraging signs are present thus far in how Catholics and non-Catholics are leveraging Magisterium AI, "a specialized instrument designed for faithful, deep and verifiable exploration of Catholic teaching," as explained on its website. The platform is intended to aid in understanding essential elements of the faith and is being utilized in over 165 countries. Bishops that Sanders has spoken to at various conferences are meaningfully picking his brain on how to leverage this tool in evangelization initiatives.

Sanders stressed that engaging with a platform “is supposed to be the start of a journey.” Ideally, the goal is for the answers provided to spark interest within the user to take steps to nurture their faith offline by connecting with a priest and parish community.