“We celebrate the networked world for the many ways in which it enriches our capabilities and prospects, but it has birthed whole new territories of anxiety, danger, and violence as the sense of a predictable future slips away.”
(Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 2019, 4)
Every day, many of us willingly track ourselves. We wear devices that record our heart rate, blood pressure, steps, sleep cycles, and even our moods. We log our weight, count calories, and note fluctuations in stress levels. All this information is useful; it helps us care for our health and live more responsibly.
But it also carries a risk. When we come to think of ourselves only in terms of numbers, we begin to accept the idea that we are those numbers. In doing so, we play into the broader temptation of our technological age to reduce the human person to data. Artificial intelligence (AI), which thrives on such data, easily reinforces this reduction.
Catholic Social Teaching (CST), however, insists on a different vision. Every person is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27) and possesses an inviolable dignity that can never be measured in data points. We remain always persons with unmeasurable worth and incalculable dignity.
The Risk of Reducing Persons to Data
Pope Paul VI reminded the Church that “the subject and the goal of all social institutions is and must be the human person” (Gaudium et Spes, 1965, no. 25). When AI systems treat people primarily as data to be tracked, categorized, and monetized, this principle is violated.
Surveillance capitalism, as Shoshana Zuboff describes, represents a system in which personal data is harvested and commodified without consent (The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 2019). The Vatican’s Rome Call for AI Ethics urges that new technology be researched and produced to “serve the entire human family,” while “respecting the inherent dignity of each of its members,” and to expand “areas of freedom” that could be threatened by algorithmic conditioning (Pontifical Academy for Life, February 28, 2020).
In short, when people are seen only as consumers or coded identities, their spiritual, relational, and transcendent dimensions are ignored. The image of God is obscured when the person is reduced to what can be counted.
The Opportunity to Enhance Dignity
Yet the very same tools that threaten dignity can also enhance it. AI is not inherently dehumanizing; it depends on how it is designed and deployed. There are hopeful examples of AI applications that affirm the sacred worth of persons. 
In healthcare, AI can diagnose disease earlier and more accurately, leading to better treatment and longer lives. Assistive technologies powered by AI allow people with disabilities to communicate, navigate, and participate more fully in society. In humanitarian work, AI is used to map poverty, track migration patterns, and predict climate-related displacement, enabling communities to respond with greater solidarity.
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church teaches that at the root of the whole complex of rights is the dignity of the human person (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, 2004, no. 154). When AI is directed toward protecting rights — health, education, and participation in society — it can become a tool for justice and human flourishing.
A Catholic Framework for AI and Dignity
The key is orientation. Catholic Social Teaching insists that technological development must always be judged by how it serves the human person and the community. Pope Francis reminds 
us that “the immense technological development has not been accompanied by a development in human responsibility, values and conscience” (Laudato Si’, 2015, no. 105). Technology, including AI, must never become an end in itself. It is a means that must serve authentic human flourishing.
This requires more than safeguards against abuse; it requires a positive vision of AI as a tool for communion, healing, and justice. Institutions must ensure transparency, consent, and accountability. Governments must work against digital divides. And communities of faith must remind the world that dignity is given by God, not earned by data.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is reshaping our world. It carries the danger of reducing persons to data points, undermining privacy, and commodifying identity. Yet it also holds potential to enhance dignity through healthcare, accessibility, and solidarity. Catholic Social Teaching offers a compass: technology must always serve the human person, never the other way around. By safeguarding human dignity and worth, society ensures that AI contributes not just to efficiency, but to the flourishing of all.
If you would like to make a comment or ask a question, I can be reached at dtheroux@smcvt.edu. Let’s talk!
For all press inquiries contact Elizabeth Murray, Associate Director of Communications at Saint Michael's College.
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