South Korea’s Catholic medical network has launched the country’s first hospital AI ethics charter, with Church leaders insisting that artificial intelligence must never replace human compassion and responsibility in caring for the sick.
The Catholic Medical Center (CMC), one of the country’s largest Catholic healthcare systems, formally unveiled its “Medical AI Ethics Charter” during the “CMC Ethical AI Transformation Symposium” held May 7 at the Catholic University of Korea in Seoul.
The charter outlines four core principles and 12 implementation guidelines centered on human dignity, medical accountability, data ethics, social justice, and ecological responsibility. Its provisions include commitments to ensure that artificial intelligence strengthens rather than replaces relationships between patients and healthcare workers that medical personnel remain ultimately responsible for treatment decisions, and that patient privacy and fairness are protected. Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick attended the symposium alongside Archbishop Giovanni Gaspari, government officials, healthcare executives, and academic leaders.
In his address, Archbishop Chung said healthcare must remain rooted in human relationships despite rapid technological advances. “The essence of healthcare is not the transmission of knowledge, but a ‘human relationship’ in which life recognizes and respects another life,”
He warned that while machines may assist healthcare workers, they cannot replace human accompaniment and compassion. “Machines can analyze
suffering, but they cannot accompany us in the face of that suffering,” he said, stressing that such accompaniment “must remain a human responsibility.”
The archbishop also expressed hope that even in an AI-driven medical environment, patients would continue to encounter compassion through healthcare workers. “Even on the day when artificial intelligence becomes fully integrated into medical practice, I pray that those who suffer may still feel, through healthcare workers and by their side, that they are loved by God,”
