While the West clamors over artificial intelligence and the latest gadgets to make their lives easier, Christians in Iran prepare for the worst.
Hardline clerics are exploring how AI can help them enforce Islamic law. Heart4Iran’s Laurelle Gallant says, “Religious leaders in Iran have argued that AI can be used for helping clerics issue fatwas faster and more effectively.”
A fatwa is a legal ruling issued by an Islamic leader. “Most clerics spend weeks or months poring over Islamic texts, social media accounts, emails, and search histories of their people to find infractions against Sharia law,” Gallant explains.
“AI could speed up both the research and the public release of fatwas.”
These edicts are used on everything from personal hygiene to Christian persecution, she adds. Ironically, Iran issued a fatwa against AI earlier this year.
“It is possible that [Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei has reconsidered his stance on AI after seeing its potential benefits for the Islamic Republic,” Gallant says.
Christian leaders who partner with Heart4Iran “are aware of the potential risks of AI being used for surveillance, censorship, propaganda, and oppression … are calling for a responsible and ethical use of AI that respects human rights and values,” Gallant says.
“If AI can help issue fatwas more effectively and quickly, it can also increase the frequency and severity of the anti-Christian fatwas, which could endanger the lives and freedoms of Christian minorities in Iran.”
Source » mnnonline