OpenAI and Anthropic Consult Religious Leaders on AI Ethics and Morality

OpenAI and Anthropic executives met Hindu, Sikh, Christian, and other religious leaders at the inaugural Faith-AI Covenant roundtable in New York in the week before May 11, 2026, organized by the Geneva-based Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities. Attendees included the Hindu Temple Society of North America, Baha'i International Community, The Sikh Coalition, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, and LDS Church. Anthropic previously met 15 Christian leaders in San Francisco in March 2026.

Faith-AI Covenant roundtable

• ▪Anthropic and OpenAI executives met Hindu and Sikh religious leaders in New York at the inaugural Faith-AI Covenant roundtable in the week before May 11, 2026
• ▪Similar Faith-AI discussions are planned for Beijing, Nairobi, and Abu Dhabi
• ▪The Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities works on issues such as extremism, radicalisation, and human trafficking
• ▪The Faith-AI Covenant roundtable was organized by the Geneva-based Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities

Religious leaders involved

• ▪The Faith-AI Covenant roundtable was attended by leaders from the Baha'i International Community
• ▪The Faith-AI Covenant roundtable was attended by leaders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• ▪Baroness Joanna Shields previously held executive roles at Google and Facebook
• ▪The Faith-AI Covenant roundtable was attended by leaders from the Hindu Temple Society of North America
• ▪The Faith-AI Covenant roundtable was attended by leaders from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

AI moral training challenges

• ▪Baroness Joanna Shields stated that the Faith-AI initiative aims to create a set of norms or principles informed by different faiths and groups that companies would follow
• ▪Critics argue that different religious groups have different values, which may make it difficult to set common principles for AI morality

Current AI ethics approaches

• ▪Anthropic's Claude Constitution was developed with the help of religious and ethics leaders
• ▪Anthropic and Google DeepMind have hired philosophers dedicated to teaching AI values
• ▪Anthropic's public Claude Constitution states that Anthropic wants Claude to do what a deeply and skillfully ethical person would do in Claude's position
• ▪Anthropic met 15 Christian leaders in San Francisco in March 2026 to discuss Claude's moral and spiritual compass

Religious guidance on AI

• ▪The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states in its handbook that AI can be a useful tool to enhance learning and teaching
• ▪The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution in 2023 stating that churches must proactively engage and shape emerging AI technologies rather than simply respond to challenges after they have already affected churches and communities
• ▪The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states in its handbook that AI cannot replace the gift of divine inspiration or the individual work required to receive it

Perspective of Critics of unified AI ethics frameworks

• ▪Critics argue that different religious groups have different values, which may make it difficult to set common principles for AI morality

Perspective of Religious institutions

• ▪The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution in 2023 stating that churches must proactively engage and shape emerging AI technologies rather than simply respond to challenges after they have already affected churches and communities
• ▪The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states in its handbook that AI cannot replace the gift of divine inspiration or the individual work required to receive it