CHURCH REVIEWS TECH HOLDINGS

The Church of England has started a review into whether its holdings in big tech firms are compatible with Christian faith. The Ethical Investment Advisory Group plans to conduct the review over the next 12 months, addressing the issues including robotics and artificial intelligence, a spokesman for the church said. The church said that ethics specialists and theologians would help determine whether the Church of England’s multi-billion investment fund should hold stakes in companies like Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google amid concerns that artificial intelligence undermines “the very idea of God.” The Church of England, which through its several funds has nearly US$15.6 billion of investments under management, has been at the forefront of a divestment movement targeting companies failing to meet ethical and environmental rules.