Francis is the first Pope to address the forum, bringing together leaders of the US, UK, Italy, France, Canada, Germany and Japan.

The Pope was invited to address the G7 by its host, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Meloni said that she hoped global leaders would benefit from the Vatican's ongoing ethical reflections on the usage of AI.

Balancing AI's potential and risks

In his speech, Pope Francis referred to AI as a "cognitive-industrial revolution" with the power to transform society. He acknowledged the benefits of AI such as democratising knowledge, advancing scientific research and alleviating labour.

However, he also warned of the significant risks associated with AI, including increased inequality and the erosion of human dignity.

Pope Francis introduced the "techno-human condition" concept, highlighting humanity's intrinsic connection to its tools.

He argued that this relationship opens humans to external realities and to God, fostering creativity and intellectual growth.

Emphasising ethical discernment, the Pope distinguished between human wisdom and algorithmic choices, stressing that critical decisions, especially those involving human life, should remain under human control due to AI's lack of moral judgement.

Ethical standards and global consensus

The Pope highlighted that AI algorithms are neither objective nor neutral, often leading to reductive judgments. He cited examples such as judicial decisions influenced by data points like ethnic origin and credit rating, warning against the risks of overlooking human potential for moral growth.

Expressing concern over students using AI to write essays, Pope Francis warned that AI-generated content lacks true creativity and undermines genuine educational experience. He emphasised the importance of fostering authentic reflection rather than merely repeating existing concepts.

Pope Francis called for developing "algor-ethics", a global set of principles to guide AI's ethical use.

Acknowledging the challenge of achieving consensus on social issues, he stressed the need for shared ethical standards across cultures and institutions.

"If we struggle to define a single set of global values" the Pope said, we can at least "find shared principles with which to address and resolve dilemmas or conflicts regarding how to live".

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

Vatican News

CathNews New Zealand

Transhumanism is a scientific and cultural movement that proposes the "modification of human biology through the convergence of new technologies" such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, computer technology, and cognitive science.

This convergence aims to create a new species in which the boundaries between the biological and the artificial are completely blurred.

One of the main ethical challenges of transhumanism is its impact on all aspects of human life, from "reproduction and birth to social organisation, including education, emotional life, work, and aging." Read more

He originally started his "Way of the Future" church in 2015 while working as an engineer on Google's self-driving project Waymo.

"Here we're actually creating things that can see everything, be everywhere, know everything, and maybe help us and guide us in a way that normally you would call God," Lewandowski said.

He added that he intended to help people better understand AI and give more people a voice in determining how the technology is utilised.

Levandowski's church came under the spotlight in 2017 when he became embroiled in a high-profile court case after he was accused of stealing trade secrets.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty. In 2021, the outgoing president, Donald Trump, pardoned him. Read more

"Pope Francis calls for an open dialogue on the meaning of these new technologies, endowed with disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects," read a statement from the Vatican on Tuesday (Aug 8).

"He emphasises 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: injustice and inequalities fuel conflicts and antagonisms," the statement continued.

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The bot has answered various types of questions, ranging from relationship advice to opinions on pizza toppings and discussions on capitalism's virtues and vices. According to NBC News, the bot clarifies that it is not a religious figure but rather an AI-powered assistant that provides guidance and wisdom based on the teachings of Jesus. It does not claim to be an authoritative voice..

During an event in Seoul, Sam Altman, the CEO of Open AI, which is the company behind ChatGPT, emphasised the need for "global cooperation" to regulate generative artificial intelligence. He stated that the increasing power of these systems is a cause for special concern and has a global impact. Read more

The study involved owners teaching their parrots to ring a bell and initiate a video call with another pet parrot on a tablet screen. During the first two weeks of the experiment, participating birds made a total of 212 video calls while their owners carefully monitored their behaviour.

Calls were terminated as soon as the birds stopped paying attention to the screen and were limited to a maximum of five minutes. Although 18 parrots initially participated, three dropped out during the course of the study.

After acquiring the skill to initiate video interactions, the experiment progressed to its second phase. During the "open call" period, the 15 birds that participated were given the freedom to make calls and choose which bird to contact. The pet parrots made a total of 147 video calls to other birds over the course of two months. The owners carefully documented the calls and recorded over 1,000 hours of video footage, which the researchers analyzed. Read more

The assembly's participants represented 29 countries, and Fr Clarence Devadass, a discernment and drafting team member, presented the updated document.

Fr Devadass explained the process: "From the data received, the responses were inputted into an AI software, and a command was given like, 'From the response below, highlight the common themes' or 'Which are the responses that are specific only to one particular group?'"

Once the data was sifted through, the drafting committee rechecked it to ensure accuracy.

Some online conversations regarding the report raised misconceptions about the process. While "artificial intelligence" may sound like science fiction, it describes computer systems designed to do tasks typically associated with humans, such as identifying what a picture depicts, transcribing spoken communication, or discerning a meaning in written text. The training process for AI models is always human-assisted.

Fr Devadass said the AI system effectively sorted data and picked up on keywords. Still, it needed to be monitored by human resources to ensure the accuracy of the data. But, he added that what would have taken a couple of hours was done in a few minutes.

The use of AI in drafting documents raised concerns about the extent of the system's role in the final product. Still, the Asian assembly's experience demonstrated the effectiveness of the technology as a tool for sorting and processing data.

Use of AI "not new" and "helpful"

"The use of artificial intelligence and digital technologies in such processes is not new," said Dr Paolo Benanti, a theologian at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. "Indeed, it can be very helpful, especially when dealing with a large amount of data. However, it is essential to be very careful in the use of these tools, and human control and guidance should always be present."

The report on the use of AI at the Asian synod meeting highlighted the increasing use of natural language processing. This is AI technology that categorises written text in terms of content and tone. Natural language models are trained on large sets of written text. Then human trainers identify specific topics and examples of tone. For example, this technology is used in customer service requests to identify angry or sarcastic prose.

In the Asian synodal document, the AI system was used to identify common topics and flag outliers. While the process may not have been perfect, it demonstrated the potential of AI to streamline and assist in the drafting process while requiring human oversight to ensure accuracy and integrity.

Sources

The Pillar

Vatican News

Leaders from the two tech giants met senior church officials in Rome, and agreed to collaborate on "human-centred" ways of designing AI.

Microsoft president Brad Smith admitted some people may "think of us as strange bedfellows" at the signing event.

"But I think the world needs people from different places to come together," he said. Read more