Faith leaders

Gerrit W. Gong

Latter-day Saint apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve

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Beyond the speed and scope of AI disruption is another unprecedented challenge: AI is concentrating information, technology, and capital and thereby centralizing power. Concentrated, centralized power infringes freedom. It undermines the sovereignty of individuals, companies and countries.

Gerrit W. Gong

Latter-day Saint apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve

In a 2026 speech, Gerrit W. Gong said AI was centralizing power in ways that infringe freedom and undermine the sovereignty of people, companies, and countries.

Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsMay 26, 2026The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Newsroom

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Surrounding words

We seek to instill the accountability for AI we earlier missed and now belatedly desire for social media. Individuals, societies, and technology companies each have a role in these essential efforts. Beyond the speed and scope of AI disruption is another unprecedented challenge: AI is concentrating information, technology, and capital and thereby centralizing power. Concentrated, centralized power infringes freedom. It undermines the sovereignty of individuals, companies and countries. The complexities of data (including autonomy, integrity, privacy, security, sovereignty) and intellectual property (including creativity, ownership, provenance) further complicate individual, company, and country independence.

What this quote does not say

Later in the speech, Gong also described AI's potential for good and said morally grounded AI could expand human agency and opportunity.

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We must protect human agency, but morally grounded AI, as a tool, can open human opportunity to do and become good. We will not fulfill AI’s full potential until we make it as morally good as we make it powerful.

Gerrit W. Gong

Latter-day Saint apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve

In a 2026 speech, Gerrit W. Gong said human agency must be protected while morally grounded AI could expand people's opportunities to do good.

Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsMay 26, 2026The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Newsroom

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Surrounding words

Everywhere I go, now to some 120 countries and territories, I see divine potential and possibility. He or she may be in the front of the class, the back of the class, perhaps not in class. We must protect human agency, but morally grounded AI, as a tool, can open human opportunity to do and become good. We will not fulfill AI’s full potential until we make it as morally good as we make it powerful. [xxxii] And we will not reach our full human potential until we, and not any technology, take responsibility to chart our best future. It’s why we need faith, moral compass, and the gift of possibility in an age of artificial intelligence.

What this quote does not say

Immediately afterward, Gong said humans, not technology, must take responsibility for charting their future.

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Indeed, public sensibility understands tools as powerful as AI must be both a) constrained by guardrails and b) grounded with moral compass to promote human-centric possibilities and opportunities.

Gerrit W. Gong

Latter-day Saint apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve

In a 2026 speech, Gerrit W. Gong said powerful AI needs both guardrails and a moral foundation to expand human possibilities and opportunities.

Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsMay 26, 2026The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Newsroom

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Surrounding words

It does not seek to convert individuals. It does not adjudicate faith claims. Pluralistically benchmarking faith and ethics in AI is not an imposition of religion on AI. Indeed, public sensibility understands tools as powerful as AI must be both a) constrained by guardrails and b) grounded with moral compass to promote human-centric possibilities and opportunities. This can begin by evaluating, including, and improving AI portrayals of individuals of faith and their beliefs. II. Faith and Ethics AI Evaluation Benchmarks Adoption of AI transformer technology continues as one of the fastest in history.

What this quote does not say

Later, Gong said guardrails alone cannot make AI promote the greater good and that AI needs reasons as well as rules.

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