“Intelligence” is a word that has been used all the times to mean the ability to acquire and apply knowledge, or to collect pieces of information that have military of political value.
In our modern time a new term has been coined, namely “artificial intelligence” (AI). This term seems strange or rather difficult to comprehend. Yet, it proves to reflect key issues relevant to every day’s life.
On August 5, 2024, the Catholic Center for Studies and Media (CCSM) in Jordan held a one-day conference in cooperation with SGP-Holland, which was patronized by Minister of Government Communications Dr. Muhannad Al-Mubaidin and titled: "Artificial Intelligence for Peace and Human Dignity".
The CCSM, as has been the case all the time, brings to light current affairs of great importance that need to be elucidated amidst the prevailing and intriguing situations that impact politics and economy among others, as well as perplex ordinary people. One of the roles played by CCSM is trying to unfold intriguing current issues and to bring needed enlightenment that would help provide goodness in a world abounding with conflicting events.
In the opening session, Minister of Government Communications Dr. Muhannad Al-Mubaidin noted that “AI is an important cognitive weapon with regards to generating information, to facilitating researchers' access to data that helps them serve their communities, as well as to conducting research studies that contribute to promoting human rights and developing communities.”
On the other hand, CCSM Director Fr. Dr. Rif’at Bader pointed out that the choice of the title of this conference emerged due to the increasing influence of AI in the military field, especially with regards to the fierce war that the afflicted Gaza Strip has been suffering from for more than 10 months, during which modern technologies are being used to kill and forcibly displace people in violation of all religious teachings, moral values, international covenants and international appeals.” Fr. Bader said: "We wanted this conference to convey a humanitarian trend reminiscent of the role of technology and its message in making peace and in preserving human dignity at a time when we do not want these modern tools to be in the hands of evil and violence, as well as in the hands of killing and abusing of people; while stressing that true intelligence must serve people."
Addresses were delivered at the conference by several specialists in the field of AI. These addresses reflected the diverse influence of AI in daily life, since AI serves as a point-ended weapon which demands wisdom and perspicacity to handle, while arising the need to keep the general situation in balance through serving humanity and maintaining its well-being. Actually, AI provides services to humanity in various fields with some top applications, namely e-commerce, education, lifestyle, navigation, robotics, natural language processing, computer vision, face recognition, human resources, healthcare, agriculture, gaming, automobiles, social media, marketing, finance, astronomy, data security, in addition to travel and transport among others. Press reports have indicated that AI has helped eradicate tuberculosis in Nepalese mountains whereby portable AI-powered X-ray machines, each weighing about 25kg, could work in one of the world’s most remote locations, enabling early diagnosis to eradicate tuberculosis, a disease that is still widespread in several low-income countries, including in South Asia. AI can still serve as source of evil when misused in various fields. These fields include cyberattacks, identity theft, autonomous weapons that can make their own decisions, wars, and financial fraud among others.
In other words, AI can be used in several ways that would provide needed services to humanity on the one hand, or rather wreak havoc on several walks of life. His Holiness Pope Francis affirmed on June 22, 2024 that artificial intelligence must only be used to benefit humanity, as he thanked the participants in the international convention on 'Generative Artificial Intelligence and Technocratic Paradigm,' organized by the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Vatican Foundation. He also warned against the tool acting autonomously, stressing that AI "is and must remain a tool" in human hands.
At the end of the conference, "Artificial Intelligence for Peace and Human Dignity", the participants recommended the need to launch a societal and ethical charter that enhances commitment to common human values, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, because the speed of transformations in digital age brings with its new challenges to individual and collective ethics.
The participants in the conference also stressed the need to place human beings and their dignity at the center of technical developments, so that artificial intelligence and its tools would not serve political goals or economic profit. They also underlined the importance of intensifying educational and media awareness efforts covering individuals and institutions regarding raising generations on the use of social media to serve goodness, beauty, and kindness.
The CCSM is a distinguished center because it stands to meets the needs of humanity and to provide services in the field of media designed to promote, peace and harmony. Among its numerous activities is launching its English- and Arabic-language websites that post reports and analyses, shed light on current world affairs, and are being updated on regular bases so that readers can always be kept abreast of the latest developments at the global level.
It is worthy to note that the CCSM has organized several conferences or taken part in others. Among them is the Christian-Islamic celebration marking the Feast of the Annunciation for two successive years, namely 2018 and 2019. Furthermore, it held among others the conference on “Media and their Role in the Defence of the Truth” on June 18-19, 2019; a conference on “Enhancement of Culture of Brotherhood and Solidarity” on July 5, 2021; a conference on lessons the world grasped from Corona in November 8, 2022; and the conference on 'Political Participation in Jordan from a Religious Perspective' on June 24, 2023.
The Catholic Center for Studies and Media promises to continue its endeavor to keep pace with the world developments by serving the cause of love, peace, common living, and fraternity.
