Perchance A Papally-Permitted Palantir 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly inextricable from an ever-expanding portion of our lives. AI’s prominence is perceptible far beyond the boldly-colored advertisements bombarding the billboards of Silicon Valley. Permeating your medical appointments, career prospects, and web-surfing – among other issue-areas across the spectrum of social and personal experience – AI has burgeoned, now undeniably infiltrating human existence.  

 

The current and potential algorithmic power of various AI models is not theoretical. Those at the pinnacle of modern power are integrating these algorithms into their prowess. Most alarmingly, various military campaigns are now bolstered by AI-powered technology. This directly and unavoidably centers human mortality in conversations regarding artificial intelligence.       

 

Consequently, the papacy cannot avoid this subject. As the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, the pope guides the world’s Catholic population (now standing in excess of 1.4 billion members) and the presence of the Church within broader society. Principally involved with the Church and her worldly members, the papacy is inherently centered on matters of human existence and mortality. As such, AI surely must be a central concern circulating in Vatican City.     

 

Though monumental, it should not have been a surprise when Pope Leo XIV released his encyclical letter, the Manifica Humanitas On Safeguarding The Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. Embedded in all angles of this release, the Pope broadcasts his central point that AI algorithms and technology must fundamentally serve humanity’s common good: artificial intelligence must value “the cooperation between generations, peoples, disciplines and cultures as the best way for fostering stability, prosperity and peace.” So as we consider AI for its numerous usages, we must, according to Pope Leo, situate our thinking upon this crux.    

 

With this ecclesiastical basis, let us turn to how AI technologies are being militarily employed. Specifically, let’s explore Palantir’s Maven Smart System (MSS). MSS essentially aggregates, assesses, and organizes militarily-concerned data, aiming to enable an “evolution in military intelligence and targeting.” This AI structure can facilitate military training, identify and strike targets, and assess equipment maintenance needs, among a long list of other potential uses. In other words, this AI technology systematizes military might so that it may execute highly concentrated and efficient (read: dehumanizingly destructive) operations. NATO and the United States have both adopted MSS algorithms into their respective military apparatuses and strategies, with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) implementing similar technology into their campaigns. While we are aware of some implications and purposes of AI’s presence in such settings, there is no exhaustive, transparent, or comprehensive information available to the public on how MSS and military technologies intertwine. So now when we learn of waves of strikes in wartime settings, targeted terrorization of civilian populations, and the wielding of systematic violence for political purposes, where might AI technology factor into these atrocities? 

 

With this being said, it seems unrealistic if not impossible for military and AI systems to now be separated. When such innovations stand to optimize and expand military and thus governmental power, these blended technologies will be unequivocally inextricable from earthly existence.     

Pope Leo positions concern for humanity at the core of his recent encyclical letter, and I think we must also take up this angle when we look at how algorithms like MSS impact the modern social and political landscape.   

 

AI concerns every inhabitant of this planet, particularly when we consider its role in military operations around the globe. Especially as it’s highlighted in the Pope’s Magnifica Humanitas, the blending of AI and military technologies must be held as a critical concern belonging to the whole of human existence. I find that the common domain of this issue, especially as it is situated upon a vast chasm of obscured information, generates more questions than answers regarding how the human situation will interact with artificial intelligence algorithms. Furthermore, creating an investigative terrain of queries seems like an inclusive and holistic beginning to humanity’s necessary interrogation of technologies like MSS. I’ll end with some questions I have of my own: 

 

What might warfare look like if AI enlarges its influence within military intelligence and/or military strategy? 

To what extent can militaries become dependent on AI algorithms? 

When will AI algorithms be able to autonomously conduct warfare? 

How will non-state actors engage with militarily-concerned AI algorithms?

How might algorithmic bias exacerbate genocidal campaigns? 

Will the momentum behind utilizing AI in military operations contribute to militarizing artificial intelligence at large?