Algor-ethics and moral-algo in defense of humanity in the age of AI

Abstract

This essay proceeds from the awareness - expressed by the Catholic Magisterium and shared by Digital Humanism - that humanity stands at an epochal crossroads before the advance of artificial intelligence. After surveying the contemporary debate, from Transhumanism and Posthumanism to Christian Digital Humanism, and outlining the key tenets of the Vatican document Antiqua et nova, the essay examines algor-ethics as a machine-side guardrail designed to embed ethical principles into algorithm development. It argues, however, that this protective measure alone is insufficient. The anthropomorphism of LLM-based conversational systems - identified in the technical literature as a source of emotional dependence, manipulation, empathy erosion, and dehumanisation - demands a complementary interven-tion on the human-user side. The paper therefore introduces moral-algo, a framework of ethical and pastoral guidance for human interaction with AI. It includes an experimental protocol termed Rules of Prompt Pragmatics, grounded in the linguistic de-anthropomorphisation of both system outputs and user inputs. The convergence of these two guardrails aims to safeguard human dignity and integrity in the age of AI.