The victim of a fake AI-generated image earlier this year, Pope Francis is calling for an international treaty to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence.
In his annual message for World Day of Peace, which the Catholic Church celebrates each Jan. 1, the pope said it’s not sufficient to presume a commitment on the part of those who design algorithms and digital technologies to act ethically and responsibly. The Vatican released the text of the message Thursday.
“There is a need to strengthen or, if necessary, 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,” he wrote.
Viral fake of Pope Francis
In March, an image of Pope Francis wearing a trendy white Balenciaga puffer coat went viral.
Pablo Xavier, a 31-year-old Chicago construction worker, created the image using the site Midjourney, according to BuzzFeed News. The artist, who refused to give his last name for fear of backlash, said he didn’t know it would go viral and didn’t mean any disrespect to the religious leader.
“I just thought it was funny to see the Pope in a funny jacket,” he told BuzzFeed.
What is the Artificial Intelligence Act?
The pope’s message was released just days after European Union negotiators gained provisional approval on the world’s first comprehensive AI rules that are expected to serve as a gold standard for governments considering their own regulation, per NBC News.
The Artificial Intelligence Act aims to ensure that fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability are protected from high risk AI, while boosting innovation and making Europe a leader in the field. The rules establish obligations for AI based on its potential risks and level of impact, according to the European Parliament.
Per NBC, “Artificial intelligence has captured world attention over the past year thanks to breathtaking advances by cutting-edge systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT that have dazzled users with the ability to produce human-like text, photos and songs. But the technology has also raised fears about the risks the rapidly developing technology poses to jobs, privacy and copyright protection and even human life itself.”
In his message, Pope Francis acknowledged the promise AI offers and praised technological advances as a manifestation of the creativity of human intelligence, echoing the message the Vatican delivered at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, where a host of world leaders raised the promise and perils of the technology, according to NBC News.
But he went further in his new message to emphasize the grave, existential concerns that ethicists and human rights advocates have raised about the technology that promises to transform everyday life in ways that can disrupt everything from democratic elections to art.
Developing AI for peace
Pope Francis urged world leaders to ensure that progress in developing forms of AI “will ultimately serve the cause of human fraternity and peace.”
“The immense expansion of technology thus needs to be accompanied by an appropriate formation in responsibility for its future development. Freedom and peaceful coexistence are threatened whenever human beings yield to the temptation to selfishness, self-interest, the desire for profit and the thirst for power,” he wrote.
Artificial intelligence, the pope wrote, ought to be understood as a galaxy of different realities.
“We cannot presume a priori that its development will make a beneficial contribution to the future of humanity and to peace among peoples,” he wrote. “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 expressed grave concern over the “weaponization of artificial intelligence,” citing in particular Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems, drawing attention to the risk of sophisticated weapons ending up in the hands of terrorists.
“The unique human capacity for moral judgment and ethical decision-making is more than a complex collection of algorithms, and that capacity cannot be reduced to programming a machine, which as ‘intelligent’ as it may be, remains a machine,” he wrote.