Pope Francis has urged a global discussion on the risks that could arise from artificial intelligence, emphasising its “disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects.”
The 86-year-old Francis, who has previously admitted he is computer-illiterate, gave the warning in a message for the upcoming Catholic Church World Day of Peace, which falls on New Year’s Day.
The pope “recalls the need to be vigilant and to work so that a logic of violence and discrimination does not take root in the production and use of such devices, at the expense of the most fragile and excluded,”
“The urgent need to orient the concept and use of artificial intelligence in a responsible way, so that it may be at the service of humanity and the protection of our common home, requires that ethical reflection be extended to the sphere of education and law,” it adds.
Francis admitted in 2015 that he was “a disaster” with technology, but he has also termed text messaging, social media, and the internet “a gift from God,” given that they are handled responsibly.
The Vatican collaborated with digital behemoths Microsoft and IBM in 2020 to advance the moral advancement of AI and demand regulation of intrusive technologies like facial recognition.
