The Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, part of the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Theology and Religion, proudly announces the launch of the Oxford Collaboration on Theology and Artificial Intelligence (OCTAI). This ground-breaking project brings together a wide-ranging network of experts to address the ethical and vocational dimensions of AI development and its impact on society.
OCTAI is led by Professor Mark Harris, Professor Joshua Hordern, and Dr. Lyndon Drake as part of a cross-institutional group which includes Dr. Stan Rosenberg (Oxford), Associate Professor Michael Burdett (Nottingham), Patricia Shaw (Beyond Reach), and Professor Nigel Crook (Oxford Brookes). It features active participation from business leaders, AI engineers, and academics across multiple departments at Oxford and other UK universities. The project emphasises meaningful engagement with experts from global majority regions, including Africa, South-East Asia, and Oceania, ensuring a truly international and diverse approach to the pressing questions of AI ethics and human values.
The primary aim of OCTAI is to build a global network of scientific, religious, and engineering experts dedicated to exploring the complex realities facing AI professionals. This network will prioritise leaders who bring a religious intelligence to their work, contributing to a richer public debate on the essence of human identity in an increasingly AI-influenced world. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, OCTAI seeks to develop a set of vocational principles for AI engineers and business leaders.
A key outcome of this work will be the “Oxford Oath for AI Engineering,” an ethical framework inspired by successful initiatives like the Physicians’ Covenant and the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness. The Oath will guide AI engineers in upholding virtues that promote societal well-being, encouraging ethical responsibility and moral commitment in AI development.
The OCTAI project has received generous funding from the John Templeton Foundation, which supports its mission to integrate scientific, philosophical, and theological insights.
