Artificial Intelligence Will Be the Theme of the Message for Peace

In particular, he will insist that the sphere of education and law take up the question of the development of these new technologies, while recent months have seen the arrival of spectacular innovations such as the Chat GPT interface.

Every January 1 since 1968, the Catholic Church has celebrated World Peace Day. On this occasion, the Sovereign Pontiff usually offers a message in which he confides his concerns and wishes for the times to come. Last January, he returned to the Covid-19 pandemic and expressed regret at the return of war to the European continent, which he described as a “calamity.”

For 2024, the Pope will propose a reflection on the development of artificial intelligence (AI) which has “an increasingly profound impact on human activity, personal and social life, politics and the economy.”

It will emphasize “the need of being vigilant and working to ensure that a logic of violence and discrimination does not take root in the production and use of these devices, to the detriment of the most vulnerable and excluded,” details the press release.

For the Sovereign Pontiff, there is an urgent need to guide the design and use of artificial intelligence in a responsible manner, so that it is in the “service of humanity and the protection of our common home.”

It is therefore necessary that “ethical reflection extends to the sphere of education and law,” to ensure the “safeguarding of the dignity of the person” and “the concern for a fraternity truly open to the entire human family.”

In 2020, under the aegis of the Holy See, several institutions signed the Rome Appeal for AI Ethics, a document developed by the Pontifical Academy for Life advocating the development of more transparent, inclusive, socially beneficial, and responsible technologies.

Among the first signatories were the companies Microsoft and IBM and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).