By Jessica Easthope
Sander Cheung’s mind races. His ideas need to come fast, because AI technology is faster.
Cheung would know. He’s been engineering AI for decades, long before it was a hot topic.
“I was all into math and science and engineering,” he said. “Back then there was not a popular term for AI.”
When he moves back to Tokyo in the spring, Cheung will step into the chief operating officer role of an organization using AI-powered robots to build houses. But he has something important to do in New York first — get baptized Catholic.
“He has all the answers,” Cheung said. “It’s almost as if I’m reading the science of the faith because it’s so logical.”
An accomplished skier, Cheung was seriously injured in an accident on the slopes two years ago and has been rehabilitating ever since. One day while walking down Queens Boulevard, he passed Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills — and his life changed forever.
“I heard the church bell ring. I just had this imagination there’s a fatherly figure standing there. I went up there and I got really emotional and I said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.’ And I imagined that he gave me a hug. It really changed my life that day.”
Cheung, who is Chinese but has lived much of his life in Japan, said he became caught up in the social demands of one of the most secular countries in the world. According to Pew Research, about 50% of people in Japan report having no religion.
“In secular society like what I experienced in Japan, a lot of people, they are not happy because your life revolves around work. I just thought the only way to do that — to be touched by Christianity,” Cheung said.
Now at 55, Cheung is preparing to receive the sacraments. And he is not leaving AI behind — he is bringing it with him.He hopes the AI homes his organization is building could one day help solve the homelessness crisis.
“When I go back to Tokyo — I want to be a soldier for Christ,” he said.
Cheung said he now believes AI and religion do not have to compete — they can collaborate. And there is nothing artificial about that.