Organized by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) in collaboration with the World Council of Churches (WCC), Evangelische Mission Weltweit - Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany, and Brot für die Welt, the symposium will take place 13-14 April under the title “Our Common Future: Advocating for Digital Rights and AI Accountability,” in Berlin, Germany, bringing together 25 invited participants representing key ecumenical networks and partners. The symposium builds in part on groundwork laid at a first, groundbreaking international symposium held in the same city in September 2021 under the heading “Communication for Social Justice in a Digital Age.” Today, almost five years later, the advances of digital technologies and their impact across all areas of life have continued to progress – not least with the recent global breakthrough and mainstreaming of generative artificial intelligence – making all the more pertinent questions of ethics, justice, accountability, and the role of faith communities. At the heart of the upcoming symposium is the aim of catalyzing ecumenical involvement and collaboration with civil society networks – across national and international advocacy – towards digital justice and AI accountability, explains Sara Speicher, who serves as WACC deputy general secretary as well as a senior communication consultant with the World Council of Churches. “Our symposium is seeking to establish bridges between different groupings to advance a shared ethical understanding of the pros and cons of digital technologies, including AI. Moral leadership is required to stop the currently largely unregulated rush towards more and more powerful digital technology, particularly as we see that it consistently fails to benefit all members of society, and is taking place largely without robust mechanisms for transparency and accountability,” Speicher says. Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, moderator of the World Council of Churches central committee, reflects: “As ecumenical partners, as faith communities and as civil society actors, we must build on current initiatives as well as identify new ways to strengthen our impact, to ensure a common future in which digital technology supports democratic principles and justice, peace, and care for creation.” A key outcome expected from the symposium is a concrete advocacy and capacity-building framework for coordinated and collaborative action towards digital justice. | 
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