Pope Leo XIV says tech companies developing artificial intelligence should abide by an “ethical criterion” that respects human dignity.
AI must take “into account the well-being of the human person not only materially, but also intellectually and spiritually,” the pope said in a message sent Friday to a gathering on AI attended by Vatican officials and Silicon Valley executives.
“No generation has ever had such quick access to the amount of information now available through AI,” he said. But “access to data — however extensive — must not be confused with intelligence.”
He also expressed concern about AI’s impact on children’s “intellectual and neurological development,” writing that “society’s well-being depends upon their being given the ability to develop their God-given gifts and capabilities.”
The only pope who probably would have had a chance to comment meaningfully on this development would have been his predecessor Francis, a Jesuit - they are the guys who desperately try to believe in the big man and the scientific method at the same time. He was relatively more at ease with modern tech. He was also old an infirm before he was recalled, which is the time when OpenAI burst onto the scene. This new guy is from a less science-minded order of Catholicism. So it isn’t that surprising that he is sceptical in public about it and we maybe didn’t hear that much about it from his predecessors.
Interesting, I never knew the different orders had focuses like that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuits#In_science
I’d take the opinion of a Jesuit over any other sort of Christian.