In a message addressed by Pope Leo XIV to the participants in the Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI), which the Vatican hosted on its second day, Pope Leo XIV said: This is "a clear indication of the Church’s desire to participate in these discussions that directly affect the present and future of our human family."
Undoubtedly, it seems clear that AI nowadays has two uses. The first one involves several spheres of human endeavor such as medicine, work, culture, communications, education, and politics. The second regrettably involves fatal use which involves development of new technologies to kill people beyond the bounds. We have seen in recent weeks how these methods have been "developed" to reach people in their rooms by killing and assassinating them, while others are glued to their screens watching live broadcasts.
From this premise, I go back a year to the G-7 summit which convened on June 24, 2024 and attended by His Majesty King Abdullah II. During the conference, the late Pope Francis spoke about AI in the service of justice and peace, saying, "In order to have these programs serving as tools for building a good and a better tomorrow, they must always be directed toward the goodness of every human being, and they must be morally-inspired." He also emphasized the important role of politics in creating optimum conditions that make this good use possible and fruitful.
In light of humanity's exigent need for this ethical decision, the late Pope signed "the Rome Call for the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence" in 2020, which includes a set of principles that can be valid to serve as a global and multilateral platform capable of acquiring support from cultures, religions, international organizations, and major technology companies. This affirms the role of the Church and its unstinting efforts to proceed towards the "ethics of algorithms," as well as its mission to enlighten the path for the world by mapping out a "roadmap" or "broad outlines" designed to solve the prevailing dilemmas and the challenges facing the extended human family.
I assume that the relevant Pope's lecture is worthy to be read and analyzed so that people can understand the capabilities that AI tools may hold to sincerely serve humans and humanity, rather than impairing the necessary and proper respect due for human dignity. I also assume that we have a major and dual responsibility, namely relevant to addressing those responsible for producing AI tools, and educating the younger generations on the proper use of these tools that serve the goodness of everybody.
These are tools that “immensely acquire much of their moral ramifications from the intentions of those who use them." In this regard I recall the words of poet Al-Mutanabbi: "Whenever time produces a problem, humans turn it into a weapon for confrontation”. The Almighty God wants every new "problem" to serve as a new tool that reflects goodness and nobility, at a time when humans install spears, namely sharp tools intended for killing and destruction.
Lastly, we reiterate that unfortunately, we--the humans-- have advanced technically, technologically, and instrumentally, but we have retreated and regressed morally and ethically. Tools symbolize the "natural" human intelligence which the Almighty God created in humans, making them different from all other creatures. On the other hand, “AI” is a human endeavor that can build a civilization of love and fraternity, but can regrettably turn humans into an easy prey as well as a target for murder and annihilation.
