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Saturday, Nov 9, 2024
Mugglehead Magazine
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AI and Autonomy

Pope Francis speaks, warns G7 about risks of unfettered AI

Pope Francis urged politicians to lead in ensuring AI remains human-centric

Pope Francis speaks warns G7 about risks of unfettered AI
Photo from Vatican Media via Vatican Pool and Getty Images

Pope Francis spoke about artificial intelligence (AI) at the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Italy on Friday, addressing anxieties regarding the promise of AI.

He challenged the world’s wealthiest countries to make strong considerations for human dignity when developing and using AI, and warned that unfettered development of AI runs the risk of turning human relations into mere algorithms.

Francis urged politicians to lead in ensuring AI remains human-centric, so humans always make decisions about using weapons or even less-lethal tools, not machines.

“We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines,” Pope Francis said.

“We need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs: Human dignity itself depends on it.”

Furthermore, the G7 final statement echoed Francis’s concerns, with leaders pledging to coordinate AI governance and regulatory frameworks to keep it human-centered. They recognized the potential impacts of machines replacing human workers on labour markets and algorithms predicting recidivism on the justice system.

The G7 committed to pursuing an inclusive, human-centered digital transformation that supports economic growth and sustainable development while managing risks in line with democratic values and human rights. Francis attended the summit to advocate for stronger AI regulations, following the rise of generative AI like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

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Pope urges politicians to ban lethal autonomous weapons

Generative AI technology has divided opinions since its arrival late last year.

It’s sparked fears about AI safety, leading to a flurry of global efforts to regulate it.

“As we move from the Information Age to the Intelligence Age, many wonder: Will AI cripple the workforce, flood the web with misinformation or worse, devolve into a version of our technophobic sci-fi nightmares and destroy us all?” asks Vancouver-based artificial intelligence company, Verses AI (CBOE Canada: VERS) (OTCQB:VRSSF) in a blog post.

“Or will it usher in a global age of prosperity? If we prefer to be optimistic and bet on the latter scenario, we must ask ourselves what kind of artificial intelligence has the greatest potential to benefit humanity.”

In this vein, Pope Francis’ annual peace message called for an international treaty ensuring ethical AI development and use, emphasizing the need for human values like compassion and morality. In his speech, he stressed that politicians must lead on this issue and urged them to ban lethal autonomous weapons.

“No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being,” the Pope said.

Regarding the weapons issue, the G7 leaders acknowledged the impact of AI in the military domain and emphasized the need for a framework for responsible development and use. They encouraged states to ensure that the military use of AI is responsible, complies with applicable international law, especially international humanitarian law, and enhances international security.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni invited Francis and announced his participation, recognizing the potential impact of his star power and moral authority on the G7.

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Multiple countries are getting onboard with AI regulation

Japan held the G7’s rotating presidency last year, and initiated the Hiroshima AI process to develop international guiding principles and a code of conduct for AI developers. Additionally, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently introduced a framework for global regulation of generative AI, systems capable of rapidly generating text, images, video, and audio in response to prompts.

The European Union led early efforts with its comprehensive AI Act, which will be implemented over the next two years and could serve as a global model. The act also applies to any AI product or service in the bloc’s 27 nations, with restrictions based on their risk levels.

In the United States, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on AI safeguards and called for legislation to bolster regulation. Some states, like California and Colorado, have been working on their own AI bills, with varying degrees of success.

Britain initiated a global dialogue on controlling AI’s most extreme risks with a summit last fall. At a subsequent meeting in Seoul, companies pledged to develop the technology safely. France will host another meeting in the series early next year. The United Nations also contributed with its first resolution on AI.

 

Verses AI is a sponsor of Mugglehead news coverage

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