Faith leaders and AI firms meet in Paris to shape AI ethics

Faith leaders, tech companies and policymakers met in Paris for the second regional roundtable of the Faith-AI Covenant, a global effort to guide AI development around human dignity, trust and resilience. The initiative will feed into more roundtables across five cities before a final launch in Abu Dhabi.

Why it matters: - The Faith-AI Covenant is trying to pull faith leaders into AI policy conversations before harms harden. - The roundtable focused on how AI can affect human dignity, moral responsibility, social trust and the common good. - Participants said the work is especially urgent as people increasingly turn to AI for guidance, beliefs and relationships. - The initiative is also meant to help communities respond to manipulation, radicalisation, online harm and deepfakes.

What happened: - Senior faith leaders, technology companies, policymakers, ethicists and academics met in Paris last Friday for the Faith-AI Covenant’s second regional roundtable. - The event took place at Le Bristol Hotel Paris. - OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and Amazon Web Services were represented, alongside major faith communities, international religious organisations, academia, civil society and AI governance institutions. - The roundtable was organised by the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities in partnership with Precognition. - Dana Humaid, chief executive of IAFSC, and Baroness Joanna Shields, CEO of Precognition, co-chaired the convening. - The Covenant was established to bring faith leaders and technology experts into direct dialogue about the future of AI. - The Paris session opened with reflections on the spiritual dimensions of innovation and the purpose of the Covenant. - Anthropic led a session on advanced AI systems. - Working sessions examined how people are using AI for guidance and how societies can build trust, resilience and adaptability as AI reshapes how people search for meaning and interpret authority.

The details: - The Paris discussion examined the risks of AI-generated deepfakes and synthetic media. - Participants warned those tools could undermine trust, inflame community tensions and accelerate radicalisation. - The group discussed ways to improve AI literacy among faith leaders and community organisations. - Participants also looked at how technology developers can better understand the social, spiritual and psychological contexts in which AI systems are used. - The Paris convening built on the initiative’s first roundtable in New York in April. - The Covenant process will continue with roundtables in Nairobi, Beijing, Singapore, Bengaluru and Rome. - The final gathering is planned for Abu Dhabi, where the Covenant will be formally launched. - Participants included representatives from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Holy See, the Chief Rabbinate of France, the Fédération Protestante de France, the Supreme Council of Muslims in Germany, the World Council of Churches, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the European Buddhist Union, Sikhs de France and the Bahá’ís de France. - AI and policy experts also attended from Paris-Sorbonne University, the OECD, the World Economic Forum, AI Safety Connect, ROOST, the Center for Humane Technology and the Future of Life Institute. - The IAFSC says it works to empower faith leaders on community safety issues including child sexual abuse, extremism, radicalisation and human trafficking. - Precognition is a London-based strategic advisory firm focused on AI and emerging technology. - More information is available on Precognition.

Between the lines: - The Covenant is positioning faith communities as a design input, not a late-stage critic, in AI governance. - That framing matters because the organizers see AI risk as partly a social and psychological problem, not only a technical one. - The Paris roundtable also reflects growing competition to define the ethical rules of AI before the technology becomes more deeply embedded in daily life. - Dana Humaid said the UAE’s experience with tolerance, advanced technology and community resilience helped shape the roundtable’s spirit. - Baroness Joanna Shields said the defining AI challenge is strengthening society’s capacity to adapt, not just building more capable systems. - His Eminence Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon said faith communities have a responsibility to engage with AI from wisdom and service. - Nicolas Miailhe of AI Safety Connect said faith traditions offer an account of human dignity that should inform AI design and governance.

What's next: - The regional roundtables in Nairobi, Beijing, Singapore, Bengaluru and Rome will feed into the final Covenant. - Organizers say insights from each convening will help shape shared principles and voluntary commitments. - The Covenant will formally launch in Abu Dhabi after the final gathering. - The broader goal is to help ensure AI systems are developed and used in ways that protect human dignity, strengthen social trust and serve the common good.

The bottom line: - The Faith-AI Covenant is building an interfaith lane into AI governance at a moment when trust, identity and manipulation are becoming central AI risks.