The New Pope Wants to Take on AI

The Catholic Church is not precisely known for being connected the cutting borderline of policy—it was inactive performing wide successful Latin until the 1960s, aft all. But the recently selected Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born Robert Prevost, has his eyes toward the aboriginal erstwhile it comes to artificial intelligence. In his archetypal ceremonial gathering with cardinals of the church, helium pointed to the improvement of AI arsenic 1 of the biggest challenges facing humanity, according to CNN.

“In our ain day, the religion offers to everyone the treasury of her societal teaching successful effect to different concern gyration and to developments successful the tract of artificial quality that airs caller challenges for the defence of quality dignity, justness and labor,” helium told the elder clergy members. He besides said helium chose his name, Leo, arsenic a awesome of his volition to travel successful the footsteps of Pope Leo XIII, who helium said worked to address “the societal question successful the discourse of the archetypal large concern revolution.”

Pope Leo XIII, who served arsenic the person of the religion from 1878 to 1903, is possibly champion known for an encyclical helium issued successful 1891 entitled “Rerum Novarum” oregon “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor.” A landmark substance connected idiosyncratic rights, the missive was a telephone to relieve “the misery and wretchedness pressing truthful unjustly connected the bulk of the moving class” and issued enactment for, among different things, the unionization of labor.

Leo XIV is besides picking up the baton from his predecessor, Pope Francis, who besides identified AI arsenic a imaginable hazard to humanity if not developed and deployed ethically and successful a human-centered way. Francis issued “Antiqua et Nova,” the “Note connected the narration betwixt artificial quality and quality intelligence,” successful which helium insisted that immoderate developments successful the tract of AI indispensable “serve quality dignity and not harm it.”

Pope Francis besides spoke publically connected AI astatine the 2024 G7 Summit, wherever helium described AI arsenic the commencement of a “cognitive-industrial revolution” and warned that it posed the hazard of causing “greater injustice betwixt precocious and processing nations oregon betwixt ascendant and oppressed societal classes.” He also delivered remarks astatine the World Economic Forum successful Davos earlier this twelvemonth earlier his passing, successful which helium warned that “human dignity and fraternity are often subordinated successful the pursuit of efficiency” during the advancement of caller technologies, and called connected those progressive with the improvement of AI to guarantee it “promotes quality dignity, the vocation of the quality person, and the communal good.”