Overview

What does it mean to live well in an age of artificial intelligence?

That is, at its heart, the question driving the Archdiocese of Malta’s recently published position paper on AI. On the surface, the document addresses specific issues across three key areas — education, the economy, and culture. But underneath lies a deeper, more hopeful ambition, captured in the opening vision of the paper itself: making humans more human.

To act ethically is to act in a way that befits our own dignity and honours the dignity of others. This is the lens through which the Archdiocese approaches AI — guided by five core principles: that human oversight must never be surrendered;  that the human person always comes first; that AI must serve the common good; that its benefits must be distributed with justice; and that environmental sustainability must be ensured. Not alarm, but a genuine desire to ensure that this technology serves human flourishing.

There is an irony worth naming. We live in an era of unprecedented technological power, and yet many people feel more powerless, not less. An economic model built on always needing more has left many of us restless and unfulfilled. We need to reflect afresh on what it means to be human. The Christian tradition has something important to contribute here — the Incarnation tells us that the human and the real are to be privileged, not escaped. True flourishing is found not by transcending our humanity, but by living it more fully.

In education, AI opens the door to richer formation — but students are persons to be formed, not data points to be optimised. In the economy, productivity gains must be shared fairly and the dignity of human work honoured. In culture, AI can be a genuine ally in celebrating Malta’s language and heritage — provided we remain intentional about what we want it to amplify.

The Archdiocese is already acting on this vision — delivering AI literacy training to over 2000 educators, working with the Malta Digital Innovation Authority on programmes for parents and vulnerable groups, and offering ethics training to priests, pastoral workers, and healthcare professionals.

The invitation of this moment is not to fear artificial intelligence, but to let it prompt us toward something more important: a renewed commitment to living our humanity well.

The Ethical Adoption of AI: the Position of the Archdiocese of Malta was published in January 2026. The full paper is available at church.mt/AOM-AI-policy

Further Reading