VALUES AND TECHNOLOGY

 «Saving values in the world of technology»

 

The Irish phenomenologist, Moran,  compares himself with the Pope's message for Communications Day: "Perhaps current philosophical anthropology is not sufficient to understand the challenges of artificial intelligence"

 

- by LUCA MARIA SCARANTINO and GIOVANNI SCARAFILE

 

Pope Francis' recent document for the 58th World Communications Day, Artificial intelligence and the wisdom of the heart: for fully human communication, urgently intervenes in the global debate, also raising a series of fundamental questions regarding the impact of AI on society, underlining the urgent need to carefully evaluate its consequences on human well-being and on the moral fabric of our community. Within this scenario, the importance of a philosophical investigation that is able to offer an incisive analytical perspective rooted in a profound understanding of the human condition clearly emerges. In this sense, the use of phenomenology, the philosophical discipline that is responsible for exploring the structures of lived experience, can prove particularly useful for shedding light on the dynamics underlying technological phenomena, balancing the evaluation of its innovative potential with an acute criticism the dangers it may pose. Dermot Moran, Joseph Professor of Catholic Philosophy at Boston College and Past President of Fisp (Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie), is one of the greatest exponents of contemporary phenomenology. In this capacity, he can help us explore the complex terrain outlined by the papal document. In the conversation with him, Moran places the emphasis on ethics, on the protection of human dignity, on the challenges to human freedom, outlining the traits of humanism in the era of artificial intelligence.

 How would you consider Pope Francis' message to interact with current trends in contemporary philosophy, particularly in relation to the development of artificial intelligence?

 This document is extremely timely and welcome and refutes the claim that the Catholic Church is anti-scientific or retrograde. In fact, the Catholic Church is leading the way among world religions in its critical reflection on AI (which I will use as a short term for generative artificial intelligence and the large language models that are currently emerging, offering something like "intelligence" and even “general intelligence”). The Pope's well-thought-out and well-articulated document asks many profound questions (I counted at least eleven questions in the text) to politicians, scientists, philosophers and theologians regarding the challenge of AI in relation to the "meaning of human life, the construction of knowledge, and the ability of the mind to reach the truth." The document begins with a confident endorsement of the ability of the human mind, created in the divine image, to acquire scientific knowledge in all fields, including AI. The project of progressing in scientific rationality is approved: AI is another opportunity for humans to realize their ability to know, although the task of knowing is infinite and we are finite and limited beings. The document then offers a concise overview of the main threats (political, economic, social, psychological, even spiritual) that generative AI poses. It concludes with a prayer that AI will be used to overcome injustice and inequality and not to perpetuate them. Currently, much contemporary philosophy has recognized the need to reflect deeply on how the techno-scientific framework is transforming humanity. Technology is not just a set of tools, as Martin Heidegger pointed out; it is a whole new framework (Gestell) that contains and promotes its implicit values. Social media platforms, for example, are not as neutral as some of their creators (e.g., Mark Zuckerberg) have insisted. We therefore absolutely need ethical and legal oversight. The document rightly adopts a global and universal perspective. Furthermore, AI development cannot be the possession of a few for the benefit of a few. Of course, the Pope, as a spiritual leader, focuses primarily on issues involving moral philosophy and, indeed, philosophical anthropology. Very rightly, he reminds scientists that these new scientific discoveries are situated within the broader framework of human cultural development. In this sense, I believe, he is right to emphasize the centrality of the human against those who, enthusiastically but naively, welcome a post-human or trans-human future! He is also calling on scientists working with these new machine learning models to be critically reflective and to maintain and promote human values. Science has always been under the influence of Prometheus' dream of controlling and dominating all of nature. But we remain mortal, finite, fragile beings, tied to our finite earthly home which is our environment in the deepest sense. The Pope reminds us that human existence is full of values and can never be reduced to a set of algorithms; human values must always guide the sciences. We should never abandon human values regarding justice, fairness, equality, to the calculations of machines, no matter how “intelligent” they appear to sift through data and predict probabilities. Furthermore, the Pope is acutely aware that even the best AI systems embody many hidden values, assumptions and biases, which can be reductive or distorting or discriminatory, precisely reflecting the complexities of our human world and not overcoming them. Machines must remain controlled by humans “in possession of their own universe of values,” as the document states. Philosophers and scientists, therefore, urgently need to examine the values implicit in these AI systems and hold them accountable to our deepest values.

What potential threats to human dignity do you consider particularly relevant in light of Pope Francis' reflections on artificial intelligence?

 The Pope's document clearly lists the dangers of machine learning, "hallucination" (i.e., making things up), uncertain reliability, the capacity for misinformation and distortion, the possibilities (already manifest) of "digital exclusion", threats to privacy, serious issues regarding ownership of data and intellectual property, and the capacity to generate new injustices, for example, AI using selection methods for job candidates that introduce new forms of discrimination and prejudice. The Pope is anxious that scientific advances promote human well-being or “betterment” and not lead to even greater discord and disadvantage. No one should be excluded from this new knowledge. Indeed, there is already considerable evidence of this digital exclusion; Entire regions of the world don't even have access to electricity or clean water, let alone the latest AI tools. There are also many issues regarding the profound distortion of knowledge that can influence political and social affairs, influencing elections or other political discussions. The Pope, therefore, rightly calls for regulations to ensure that these AI advances protect individuals and the social good. There are threats of theft of a person's identity, even their face, voice, DNA, which are removed from the subject's control. The use of AI in selecting humans for jobs etc. it is fraught with dangers involving forms of prejudice and discrimination, both conscious and unconscious. He is aware that humans can be manipulated with false information, illusions, dissimulations, simulacra, a shadowy world of appearances just like Plato's cave. There is a need to preserve human control over all our information systems. There is a need to protect the dignity and integrity of the human person. So, the question is: how do we vet the development of AI to ensure that it meets the highest standards of care and respect for human subjects? This is clearly an ongoing task and one that requires all our intellectual disciplines and resources. Religion and philosophy rightly have a voice.

 How do you view the impact of artificial intelligence on our understanding of human freedom and will?

 It seems to me that we need to go beyond the old opposition between freedom and determinism. Many scientists are naively deterministic about humans and, indeed, about the universe itself. Contemporary science is indeed a manifestation of the will to power over all of nature, including human nature itself. There are already experiments involving the alleged enhancement of intelligence through the implantation (in humans and animals) of microchips that function in the brain itself. There are already concerns that scientists will exploit the vulnerable in these experiments, as there have been experiments on prisoners, orphans and the destitute in the past. But there is also concern that AI will perpetuate inequalities. Certainly, AI systems have the ability to give us more freedom by removing fatigue, but AI has an even greater danger of enslaving humanity through unregulated access and manipulation of human data.

 In what ways does the Pope perceive the role of artificial intelligence in promoting authentically human communication?

 The papal document rightly adopts a universalist perspective and a confidence that the best use of scientific knowledge will actually benefit all humanity. In this sense, the document is optimistic and certainly not apocalyptic. The letter demands that we place these new discoveries at the center of our concerns for human improvement and that we educate ourselves to manage these new realities. New breakthroughs in AI can better assist us in accessing and sharing knowledge, assuming we genuinely want to remove barriers. We must protect ourselves from the exclusivity in the benefits of this knowledge and also from the dangers of self-learning AI systems that function beyond human control to the point of posing an existential threat to the human race. This is no longer the stuff of science fiction. We have two fundamental imperatives: protect all human life and protect our planetary ecological environment. Today we are almost drowning in the flood of information without there being real dialogue and communication. A critical stance is deeply necessary to help us counter misinformation that masquerades as communication.

In your opinion, what challenges and opportunities could artificial intelligence present for the future of society?

 The technological transformations of the last two centuries have been a whirlwind. Modes of transportation have moved very rapidly from the horse and carriage (ubiquitous before the Great War) to the train, automobile, airplane and spacecraft. Mechanization and industrialization have effectively eliminated human toil and freed humans for higher forms of activity. Satellite systems provide communications globally. But technology also produces weapons of mass destruction that cause immense suffering everywhere. The discovery and actual deployment of atomic bombs are a constant reminder of the way scientific discovery can lead to horrendous consequences. Despite our technological advances, our world today still has enormous exploitation and slavery; think about the horror of child labor. AI must be used to improve workers' conditions, but not at the cost of making low-skilled workers permanently unemployable. The greatest challenge, as the Pope rightly underlines, is to preserve human values and bring all humanity with us on this journey. The Pope sees this in terms of fulfilling the divine plan to make the earth a habitable place for human beings. There are significant challenges to how we understand human beings but we must not abandon our efforts to keep the human person at the center of our concerns. We must curb the exuberance of the Promethean technocrats, preserve the sources of human values and human freedom, and continue to exercise our rational control over our lives for the betterment of humanity and our world. A remarkable fact that strikes me as a philosopher and phenomenologist is how AI algorithms and procedures (especially large language models) are actually built upon and reproduce the dense pre-predicative assumptions and network of beliefs and practices that Husserl defined as the “world of life” (Lebenswelt). While AI systems may be infused with the best “moral” perspectives and surrounded by explicit laws and procedures to eliminate bias, etc., it is clear that there is an even larger implicit belief and value system built into platform operating systems themselves. For example, a recruiting agency's AI tool might filter out candidates whose speech patterns don't conform to what the AI considers polite. In this sense, philosophers urgently need to reflect on whether current philosophical anthropology is sufficient to understand the challenges of AI. A radical rethinking of our human existence is necessary to identify and preserve our deepest values.

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WORLD DAY OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION

Communications 

Day message: 

AI can never replace

 wisdom 

of human heart

In his message for the 58th World Day of Social

 Communications, Pope Francis urges humanity to cultivate

 wisdom of the heart in the age of artificial intelligence.

 

By Francesca Merlo

 Pope Francis has released his message for the 2024 World Day of Social Communications, focusing on the theme: Artificial Intelligence and the Wisdom of the Heart: Towards a Fully Human Communication.

Celebrated on 12 May, this year's theme is closely linked to the Pope’s message for the World Day of Peace, which was devoted to the development of systems of artificial intelligence (AI).

AI is “radically affecting the world of information and communication, and through it, certain foundations of life in society,” says the Pope in his Communications Day message, adding that “these changes affect everyone.”

So, the Pope asks, “how can we remain fully human and guide this cultural transformation to serve a good purpose?”

Starting with the heart

In answering this question, the Holy Father notes that “at this time in history, which risks becoming rich in technology and poor in humanity, our reflections must begin with the human heart.”

He recalls that, in the Bible, the heart is seen as the place of freedom and decision-making, "symbolising integrity and unity, while also engaging our emotions, desires, and dreams."

But, he continues, the heart is, above all, “the inward place of our encounter with God."

“Wisdom of the heart, then, is the virtue that enables us to integrate the whole and its parts, our decisions and their consequences, our nobility and our vulnerability, our past and our future, our individuality and our membership within a larger community," says the Pope.

Opportunity and danger

The Holy Father goes on to stress that such wisdom cannot be sought from machines.

Although the term "artificial intelligence" has replaced the term "machine learning," he said, “the very use of the word 'intelligence' can prove misleading."

The Pope explained that it is not enough to be able to store data, like machines do, but that this data must be made sense of, and “human beings alone” are capable of this.

“Depending on the inclination of the heart, everything within our reach becomes either an opportunity or a threat,” warns the Pope.

He notes that the technology of simulation behind AI algorithms can be useful in certain specific fields.

However, he adds, the use of AI becomes “perverse when it distorts our relationship with others and with reality.”

In fact, it is extremely important to know that in the wrong hands, such tools could lead to “disturbing scenarios.”

Artificial Intelligence must be regulated, asserts Pope Francis, acknowledging that, as in every human context, “regulation is, of itself, not sufficient.”

Growth in humanity

Pope Francis then invites everyone to grow together, “in humanity and as humanity,” recalling that we are all challenged to make a qualitative leap in order to become “a complex, multiethnic, pluralistic, multireligious, and multicultural society.”

Speaking of information, the Holy Father warns that “information cannot be separated from living relationships.”

He explains that relationships involve the body and an immersion into the real world, but that they also involve human experiences, "compassion, and sharing.”

With this in mind, Pope Francis refers to the many reporters who have been injured or killed in the line of duty as they attempted to show the world what they themselves had seen.

“For only by such direct contact with the suffering of children, women, and men can we come to appreciate the absurdity of war," says the Pope.

Questions for today and for the future

Bringing his message for World Communications Day to a close, Pope Francis recalls that “it is up to us to decide whether we will become fodder for algorithms or will nourish our hearts with that freedom without which we cannot grow in wisdom.”

Only together, he concludes, can we increase our capacity for discernment and vigilance and for seeing things in the light of their fulfilment.

Pope Francis then prays that humanity may never lose its bearings, and that the wisdom that was present before all modern technology may return to us.

Wisdom, says the Pope, can help us “to put systems of artificial intelligence at the service of a fully human communication.”

 

Pape François: utiliser la sagesse du cœur pour une communication pleinement humaine

 Orientar la inteligencia artificial a una comunicación humana

 

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Vatican News

 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND PEACE

 In World Peace Day message, 

Pope warns of risks of AI for peace

In his message for the 57th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis reflects on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on world peace and urges the international community to adopt a binding international treaty that regulates its development and use.

 

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By Lisa Zengarini

 New technologies must always be directed to “the pursuit of peace and the common good, in the service of the integral development of individuals and communities.”

 In his annual Message for the World Day of Peace, Pope Francis urges world leaders to ensure that progress in developing forms of artificial intelligence “will ultimately serve the cause of human fraternity and peace.”

 The message, dedicated to the theme ‘Artificial Intelligence and Peace,’ was released by the Vatican on Thursday ahead of the 57th World Day of Peace, 1 January 2024.

 Inherent ambivalence of techno-scientific advances

In it, Pope Francis draws attention to the “ethical dimension “of these new technologies which are revolutionizing humanity in all spheres of life, highlighting the ambivalence inherent in any progress in science and technology.

 On the one hand, he says, it can lead to the betterment of humanity and the transformation of the world if it “contributes to greater order in human society and greater fraternal communion and freedom”

 On the other hand, techno-scientific advances, especially in the digital sphere, “are placing in human hands a vast array of options, including some that may pose a risk to our survival and endanger our common home.”

 No technological innovation is “neutral”

The message recalls that no scientific research and technological innovation is “neutral”: “As fully human activities, the directions they take reflect choices conditioned by personal, social, and cultural values in any given age. The same must be said of the results they produce: precisely as the fruit of specifically human ways of approaching the world around us, the latter always have an ethical dimension, closely linked to decisions made by those who design their experimentation and direct their production towards particular objectives.”

 This also applies to AI, for “the impact of any artificial intelligence device – regardless of its underlying technology – depends not only on its technical design, but also on the aims and interests of its owners and developers, and on the situations in which it will be employed.”

 Therefore, we “cannot presume a priori that its development will make a beneficial contribution to the future of humanity and to peace among peoples.  That positive outcome will only be achieved if we show ourselves capable of acting responsibly and respect such fundamental human values as ‘inclusion, transparency, security, equity, privacy and reliability’”, Pope Francis writes.

 Ethical issues

Hence the need, “to establish bodies charged with examining the ethical issues arising in this field and protecting the rights of those who employ forms of artificial intelligence or are affected by them.”

 “We have a duty to broaden our gaze and to direct techno-scientific research towards the pursuit of peace and the common good, in the service of the integral development of individuals and communities.”

 “Technological developments that do not lead to an improvement in the quality of life of all humanity, but on the contrary aggravate inequalities and conflicts, can never count as true progress,” the Pope says.

 The message goes on to highlight the many challenges posed by AI which are “anthropological, educational, social and political.”

 Risks for democratic societies

The ability of certain devices to produce coherent texts, for example, “is no guarantee of their reliability.” This, the Pope says, “poses a serious problem when artificial intelligence is deployed in campaigns of disinformation that spread false news and lead to a growing distrust of the communications media.”

 The misuse of these technologies can also have other negative consequences “such as discrimination, interference in elections, the rise of a surveillance society, digital exclusion and the exacerbation of an individualism increasingly disconnected from society”, all of which are threats to world peace.

 Pope Francis then warns of the risks to democratic societies and peaceful coexistence of the dominant technocratic paradigm behind AI and the cult of unlimited human power: “By proposing to overcome every limit through technology, in an obsessive desire to control everything, we risk losing control over ourselves.”

 Algorithms must not determine how we understand human rights

He insists on the “burning” ethical issues posed by AI, including discrimination, manipulation, or social control: “Reliance on automatic processes that categorize individuals, for instance, by the pervasive use of surveillance or the adoption of social credit systems, could likewise have profound repercussions on the social fabric by establishing a ranking among citizens.”

 “Algorithms must not be allowed to determine how we understand human rights, to set aside the essential human values of compassion, mercy, and forgiveness”, the Pope stresses, also highlighting the impact of new technologies on the workplace.

 Weaponization of artificial intelligence

Pope Francis expresses particular concern for the “weaponization of artificial intelligence,” citing Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), drawing attention to the risk of sophisticated weapons ending up in the hands of terrorists.

 “The most advanced technological applications should not be employed to facilitate the violent resolution of conflicts, but rather to pave the way for peace.”

 On the positive side, Pope Francis notes that artificial intelligence can be used to promote integral human development, by introducing “important innovations in agriculture, education, and culture, an improved level of life for entire nations and peoples, and the growth of human fraternity and social friendship.”

 Challenges for education

The message goes on to highlight the challenges posed by AI to the education of the new generations who are growing up “in cultural environments pervaded by technology.”

 In this regard, the Pope points to the urgent need to educate young people in the use of artificial intelligence. This education, he says, “should aim above all at promoting critical thinking.”

 Need for an international treaty to regulate AI

Pope Francis therefore urges the global community of nations to work together to adopt a binding international treaty that regulates the development and use of artificial intelligence in its many forms: “The global scale of artificial intelligence makes it clear that, alongside the responsibility of sovereign states to regulate its use internally, international organizations can play a decisive role in reaching multilateral agreements and coordinating their application and enforcement.”

 “It is my prayer at the start of the New Year” the message concludes, “that the rapid development of forms of artificial intelligence will not increase cases of inequality and injustice all too present in today’s world but will help put an end to wars and conflicts and alleviate many forms of suffering that afflict our human family.”  

 Vatican News

 

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE
FRANCIS

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & YOUTH

 

COMMON SENSE AND CHATGPT

 Common Sense does not live in ChatGpt.

The inability of AI systems to access the meaning of what they process makes them 'inhuman'.  The alienation of those who have to train them exacerbates the problem.

 The machine lacks a body, so its learning is based only on words.  To remedy this, it is not enough to increase the amount of text, especially if it is generated by other AI programmes.

 

- by VINCENZO AMBRIOLA

  "Dad, what is a sycamore tree?" Most of us would not know how to answer this question. Perhaps some know it is a tree, from the Gospel passage of Zacchaeus. And then from reading The Shadow of the Sycamore by John Grisham. The cooler ones might remember Down by the sycamore tree, a famous jazz tune by Stan Getz. But how many would be able to recognise a sycamore tree in a botanical garden? In our minds, words are linked both to real-world experiences through the five senses and to other words, in what constitutes an enormous semantic network managed by billions of neurons and synapses that connect them. The word sycamore, if present in this network, could be linked to the concepts of tree, book or jazz. That is why we would be able to answer a curious child.

Generative artificial intelligence, the one behind the operation of ChatGpt and many other similar systems, works by linking words together. Words are analysed in the sentences in which they appear, calculating the probability that they are associated with other words. When the user dialogues with the artificial intelligence system, the response is constructed using the neural network within it, word by word according to a process that also uses some randomness. Formulated at two different instants, the same question can result in a different answer. The substantial difference that exists between these systems and the human mind is the absence of information coming from reality and the total dependence on the words used during their learning. Basically, it is a-sensory knowledge combined with a predominantly statistical manipulation of words (treated as abstract symbols). Interaction with reality is thus what characterises us humans and transforms a continuous flow of information into verbally encoded knowledge.

Much of this knowledge constitutes 'common sense', a heritage passed on from generation to generation that enables us to survive in our environment and interact with other human beings, sharing the profound meaning of words. Words that for us are not just symbols, but semantic markers of reality. Common sense has always been and still is the subject of study and research. The development of computer science is closely linked to the many possible ways of capturing and representing it in so-called ontologies and using it in deductive, inductive and abductive automatic reasoning systems. Since the time of Aristotle, logic has been the greatest conceptual challenge for mankind.

  "We can know more than we can say," so wrote Michael Polanyi in his 1966 essay The Unexpressed Knowledge, in which he presented his research on implicit or tacit knowledge. At a time strongly influenced by a rationalist approach, the birth of electronic calculators and the ideas of Alan Turing, Polanyi questioned the possibility that a human being could have complete and explicit control over everything he knew. This was a strong and orthodox position, which rejected the project of formally codifying knowledge and then using it in a computational context.

  Generative artificial intelligence systems do not possess the equivalent of common sense, let alone an implicit knowledge of what they have learnt. They do not need common sense for survival, and, above all, it cannot be acquired through a sensory apparatus that they lack. They learn only through the words used in training and interact with humans only through these words. They are not able to move us with a look or calm us with a caress. To do this they would have to have a body, but then they would be robots and not conversational bots. In a recent article, Christopher Richardson and Larry Heck describe the state of the art of research projects that aim to add common sense into generative artificial intelligence systems. The negative conclusion of this study leaves no doubt when it states that "current systems exhibit limited common sense reasoning capabilities and negative effects on natural interactions".

 Training an AI system using a large amount of text is not enough. The neural network within it can be confused by relations between words that produce responses without any (common) sense, also called hallucinations. Further training is required. In many parts of the world (Kenya, Nepal, Malaysia, the Philippines, India), hundreds of thousands of individuals spend their day in front of a computer screen, interacting with the system, correcting its responses, identifying hallucinations. A tedious and repetitive job often underpaid and on the edge of economic survival. In 2007, Fei Li, then a professor at Princeton and an expert in AI, declared that to improve the quality of image recognition it would be necessary to manually tag millions of images and not a few tens of thousands. She was right and her strategy caused a new springtime for artificial intelligence.

Human nature wants the person in control of the machines and not subject to their domination. A group of researchers at Rice University recently discovered that the humans in charge of training AI systems, to relieve a repetitive and tedious operating procedure, use, however, these very same systems, in a way violating the indications they receive. In practice, the indications given by the trainers are generated 'synthetically' by the systems they are training, in what we can metaphorically call a 'computer incest' that could slowly degrade the quality of the trained neural network. The same problem is encountered when creating a new AI system, using texts from the Internet, which are increasingly generated by other AI systems.

Generative artificial intelligence is still in its infancy and, as such, is destined to grow and evolve. Its training based on human-produced texts makes it inevitably human-like. Its enormous computing power makes it perceived as superhuman, when for instance it can perform tasks that would be inconceivable to us in terms of the amount of calculation. The absence of common sense, however, reveals its inherent and inevitable inhumanity. At the present time, the most likely hypothesis is that AI will become increasingly superhuman (increase in knowledge and performance) but also increasingly less inhuman (evolution of algorithms, sense management). In the background remains the hypothesis that at some point some form of artificial consciousness may emerge that would even make it autonomous.

 

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE . URGES ETHICAL USE

While praising the benefits of technology and artificial intelligence, Pope Francis says AI raises serious questions and must be ethically and responsibly used to promote human dignity and the common good.

 

-By Deborah Castellano Lubov

 

Pope Francis has applauded the benefits of technology and artificial intelligence, when used for the common good, but has warned against using AI unethically or irresponsibly.

He did so when addressing the 'Minerva Dialogues,' a high-level annual gathering of scientists and experts, organized by the Vatican's Dicastery for Education and Culture, on Monday in the Vatican.

The assembly brings together experts from the world of technology – scientists, engineers, business leaders, lawyers and philosophers -and representatives of the Church – curial officials, theologians and ethicists – with the aim of studying and fostering greater awareness of the social and cultural impact of digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. 

Responsible use of technology

The Pope said he greatly values this ongoing dialogue, especially as it involves the discussion regarding the responsible use of technology, a discussion, he called, "open to religious values." 

“I am convinced that dialogue between believers and nonbelievers on fundamental questions of ethics, science and art, and on the search for the meaning of life, is a path to peace and to integral human development.”

Technology is, and has been, he said, "immensely beneficial" to our human family, especially in the fields of medicine, engineering and communications.

In acknowledging the practical benefits of science and technology, he noted, "we also see them as evidence of the creativity of human beings and the nobility of their vocation to participate responsibly in God's creative action."

Acting ethically

"From this perspective," he said, "I am convinced that the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning has the potential to contribute in a positive way to the future of humanity." 

"At the same time," Pope Francis cautioned, "I am certain that this potential will be realized only if there is a constant and consistent commitment on the part of those developing these technologies to act ethically and responsibly." 

“It is reassuring to know that many people in these fields are working to ensure that technology remains human-centred, ethically grounded and directed toward the good.”

 

He expressed appreciation for the consensus which has emerged, on the need for "development processes" to "respect such values as inclusion, transparency, security, equity, privacy and reliability."  He also welcomed efforts of international organizations to regulate these technologies, so that "they promote genuine progress, contributing, that is, to a better world and an integrally higher quality of life."

Intrinsic dignity of every man and woman

“I would therefore encourage you, in your deliberations, to make the intrinsic dignity of every man and woman the key criterion in evaluating emerging technologies; these will prove ethically sound to the extent that they help respect that dignity and increase its expression at every level of human life.”

"It is a source of concern to me that evidence to date suggests that digital technologies have increased inequality in our world," he lamented.

Certain questions, the Pope insisted, need to be raised.

"Are our national and international institutions able to hold technology companies accountable for the social and cultural impact of their products?  Is there a risk that increased inequality could undermine our sense of human and social solidarity?  Could we lose our sense of having a shared destiny?"

Our true goal, he said, must be for the growth of scientific and technological innovation to be accompanied by greater equality and social inclusion.

Data cannot measure human dignity

"The concept of intrinsic human dignity requires us to recognize and respect the fact that a person’s fundamental value cannot be measured by data alone," the Pope said. "In social and economic decision-making," he continued, "we should be cautious about delegating judgments to algorithms that process data, often collected surreptitiously, on an individual’s makeup and prior behaviour. "

He warned that such data can be "contaminated" by societal prejudices and preconceptions.  "A person’s past behaviour," he noted, "should not be used to deny him or her the opportunity to change, grow and contribute to society. "

“We cannot allow algorithms to limit or condition respect for human dignity, or to exclude compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and above all, the hope that people are able to change.”

Pope Francis concluded by offering his prayerful good wishes, thanking those present for their efforts to listen to and reflect on each other’s contributions.

 Vatican News

 

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