Pope Francis Becomes First Pontiff to Address a G7 Summit, Raises Alarm About AI

Bari: Pope Francis challenged leers of world’s wealthy democracies Friday to keep human dignity foremost in developing and using artificial intelligence, warning that such powerful technology risks turning human relations mselves into mere algorithms.

Francis brought his moral authority to bear on Group of Seven, invited by host Italy to dress a special session at ir annual summit on perils and promises of AI. In doing so, he became first pope to attend G7, offering an ethical take on an issue that is increasingly on agenda of international summits, government policy and corporate boards alike.

Francis said politicians must take le in making AI human-centric, so that human decisions always remain me by humans and not machines.

“We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about mselves and ir lives, by dooming m to depend on choices of machines,” he said. “We need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over choices me by artificial intelligence programs: Human dignity itself depends on it.”

Francis intended to use occasion to join chorus of countries and global bodies pushing for stronger guardrails on AI following boom in generative artificial intelligence kickstarted by OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot.

Argentine pope used his annual peace message this year to call for an international treaty to ensure AI is developed and used ethically. He argues that a technology lacking human values of compassion, mercy, morality and forgiveness is too perilous to develop unchecked.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni invited Francis and announced his participation, knowing potential impact of his star power and moral authority on G7.

“ pope is, well, a very special kind of a celebrity,” said John Kirton, a political scientist at University of Toronto who directs G7 Research Group think tank.

Kirton recalled last summit that h this kind of star power was 2005 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, where members decided to wipe out $40 billion of debts owed by 18 of world’s poorest countries to World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

That summit was preceded by a Live 8 concert in London that featured Sting, Who and a reformed Pink Floyd and drew over a million people in a show of solidarity against hunger and poverty in Africa.

“Gleneagles actually hit a home run and for some it’s one of most successful summits,” Kirton said.

No such popular pressure is being applied to G7 leers in Italian region of Puglia, but Francis can wield his own moral authority to renew his demands for safeguards for AI and highlight threats to peace and society it poses.

Generative AI technology has dazzled world with its capabilities to produce humanlike-responses, but it’s also sparked fears about AI safety and led to a jumble of global efforts to rein it in.

Some worry about catastrophic but far off risks to humanity because of its potential for creating new bioweapons and supercharging disinformation. Ors fret about its effect on everyday life, through algorithmic bias that results in discrimination or AI systems that eliminate jobs.

In his peace message, Francis echoed those concerns and raised ors. He said AI must keep foremost concerns about guaranteeing fundamental human rights, promoting peace and guarding against disinformation, discrimination and distortion.

On regulation front, Francis will in some ways be preaching to converted as G7 members have been at forefront of debate on AI oversight.

Japan, which held G7’s rotating presidency last year, launched its Hiroshima AI process to draw up international guiding principles and a code of conduct for AI developers. ding to those efforts, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last month unveiled a framework for global regulation of generative AI, which are systems that can quickly churn out new text, images, video, audio in response to prompts and commands.

European Union was one of first movers with its wide-ranging AI Act that’s set to take effect over next two years and could act as a global model. act targets any AI product or service offered in bloc’s 27 nations, with restrictions based on level of risk y pose.

In United States, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on AI safeguards and called for legislation to strengn it, while some states like California and Coloro have been trying to pass ir own AI bills, with mixed results.

Antitrust enforcers on both sides of Atlantic have been scrutinizing big AI companies including Microsoft, Amazon and OpenAI over wher ir dominant positions stifle competition.

Britain kickstarted a global dialogue on reining in AI’s most extreme dangers with a summit last fall. At a follow-up meeting in Seoul, companies pledged to develop technology safely. France is set to host anor meeting in series early next year. United Nations has also weighed in with its first resolution on AI.

On sidelines of his AI speech, Francis has a full day of bilateral meetings. He h meetings with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as invited leers from Algeria, Brazil, India, Kenya, Turkey. He will also meet with G7 members, including Biden, Canian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron.