Artificial Intelligence and the Principle of Natural Law in Catholic Ethics

The main objective of this essay is to interrogate the principle of Natural law as the philosophical arbiter in Catholic ethics in the light of contemporary research in artificial intelligence (AI). There is a global apprehension due to the advancement in the science and technology of AI in particular and artificial systems in general. Ethics based on the Natural law has been challenged and contended by rival ethical theories and principles in the history of Western moral philosophy and Ethics. It is the submission of this essay that the research in AI, and the artificial in general, pose even more problematics to Catholic morality and ethics that are philosophically grounded on the principle of Natural law. This essay discusses these problematics and posit a need for reconstructive philosophical ethics, a moral philosophy that is conceptually personalistic while sustaining the principle of the Natural law.