San Francisco faith leaders meet privately to discuss AI's impact on humanity

A group of San Francisco's prominent religious leaders convened behind closed doors at the University of San Francisco to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence, Mission Local reported. The meeting brought together pastors, rabbis, and ministers from Catholic, Baptist, Orthodox, Episcopal churches, Reform synagogues, and the Muslim Impact Council.

The gathering was the first of potentially several meetings aimed at addressing how AI affects religious understanding and what it means to be human in the age of technology, according to Mission Local. The session lasted three hours and was closed to the media to allow open dialogue among participants.

Michael Pappas, a Greek Orthodox priest and executive director of the San Francisco Interfaith Council, organized the meeting. He noted it was the first time such a diverse group of faith leaders had met together in the city to discuss these issues.

Among those attending were Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the San Francisco Archdiocese, Metropolitan Gerasimos of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, Rev. Devon Jerome Crawford of the Third Baptist Church, and Rabbi Sarah Joselow Parris of Congregation Emanu-El, as reported by Mission Local.

The meeting is seen as a step toward a larger citywide faith convening to further explore the relationship between religion and emerging technologies like AI.