"Artificial Intelligence is unable to provide an accurate assessment of the psychological state of an individual, or society, by analyzing social networks’ data," said Vakhtang Kipshidze, Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for the Russian Orthodox Church Relations with Society and Mass Media, in an interview with the RIA Novosti Information agency.

He commented on a recent report, regarding the Russian Academic Institute for System Programs launching research on the use of AI in drawing an individual’s psychological profile. This, in its turn, could be used to detect illegal activities, like instigating ethnic conflicts, recruitment of SN users to terrorist groups, and so on.

“Human nature is way more complicated than an individual’s activity in social networks, which definitely does not fully reflect his current psychological condition,” Kipshidze said. “Automated systems can sure enough help to detect something like attempts to stir unrest in society, but — and this is my firm belief — only a living person, a real human, is able to make the final assessment of an individual’s state of mind and his motives.”    

"As for the use of AI in forecasting religious conflicts," he observed, "mathematical methods can hardly be used to determine — or what’s even more complicated, to forecast — individuals’ conduct in matters related to faith.” He said, “I am absolutely convinced that the assessment of human behavior must be made by a human being, not a machine. We may not dehumanize the process, excluding a real living person from evaluating human behavior,” the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church concluded.