Churches race to set AI’s moral rules before Silicon Valley does

Shaw University Divinity School in Raleigh, North Carolina, will launch what organizers call the first doctoral degree in artificial intelligence ethics offered by an accredited theological school in the U.S. or Canada, starting in January.

The Doctor of Education in Artificial Intelligence and Moral Agency comes as religious institutions increasingly race to shape AI’s moral framework before technology companies do it for them.

“We say Shaw was created to provide leadership in building literacy,” said Mark Harden, dean of Shaw University Divinity School. Mr. Harden said the program continues that mission, calling it the school’s “second calling” — building AI literacy “for vulnerable communities with an emphasis on social justice and ethics.”

The push follows Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” warning against letting tech firms alone set AI’s ethical rules, and a $50 million Lilly Endowment gift to Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good to help churches and schools navigate AI.

Meghan Sullivan, the institute’s director, said theological schools have unique standing to weigh in. “A theological school … is going to have a whole lot to say about how we should navigate a world where … people have the ability to offload many decisions to commercial software,” Ms. Sullivan said.

More than 60 people have expressed interest in Shaw’s program, which will take three to four years and is mostly online.

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• Historic divinity school is offering the first doctoral degree in ’AI and Moral Agency’