Catholic moral theologians urge federal court to support ‘clear boundaries’ around military AI usage

A group of Catholic moral theologians is urging a federal appeals court to rule in favor of “caution” and “responsibility” regarding military artificial intelligence (AI) usage, with the scholars weighing in on a dispute between the U.S. government and one of the most prominent AI companies.

The scholars — which include University of Dayton professor Jana Bennett, Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum bioethics professor Father Michael Baggot, and Loyola University Chicago philosophy professor Joe Vukov — told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that it should support “defined normative boundaries” for the use of AI in warfare.

Amicus brief from Catholic moral theologians

The dispute stems from the U.S. Department of War’s usage of AI models from Anthropic, a major California-based AI developer. The company had been providing intelligence technology for the government but had forbidden its usage in both lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance of U.S. citizens.

The War Department ultimately ended its contract with Anthropic and subsequently labeled the company a national security risk. The D.C. appeals court upheld that decision in a September…