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Prof. Schweiker Delivers Keynote at Yale Divinity School Conference on AI and Humanity
May 14, 2025
William Schweiker giving his paper on “Conscience and the Ends Of Humanity" / photo by Timothy Cahill
William Schweiker, Edward L. Ryerson Distinguished Professor of Theological Ethics, gave the keynote speech at the Yale Divinity School “AI and the Ends of Humanity: Thinking Theologically After ChatGPT” conference last month. His talk on his recent paper, “Conscience and the Ends of Humanity: Christian Humanism and Artificial Intelligence,” set the tone for the conference.
A piece for the Yale Divinity School News, recapping the conference, shares excerpts of the talk:
“The eternal wrestle of conscience—to at once be guided by our responsibility to do right, and to constantly fall short of satisfying its innate wholeness—is uniquely human. Artificial intelligence can be programmed to be responsible, Schweiker acknowledged, but not ‘in a condition marked …. by the freedom for hypocrisy. That odd capability is, at least for now, lacking in AI in its rule-following existence.’”
Watch the keynote: