Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin says he is concerned over states “going it alone” on artificial intelligence. Source: Vatican News.
“Let us stop and genuinely reflect on what the consequences of artificial intelligence and its use might be,” Cardinal Parolin said on the sidelines of a conference on “Faith and Reason in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, held at the Italian Parliament yesterday.
AI, its potential and the risks it poses to humanity and the common good were the focus of the cardinal’s address at the conference, as well as of his answers to journalists’ questions on international affairs.
These began with the call for AI regulation recently made by the Big Tech companies themselves. “We hope that it is ethical reasoning that drives this kind of consideration”, Cardinal Parolin said.
He praised Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s recent call for responsibility on the part of states and supranational bodies in governing new technologies. This is “a global phenomenon” which “requires everyone’s participation”, he said.
“My concern is that there are countries which, in fact, want to go it alone”, Cardinal Parolin said. Instead, what is required is “everyone’s involvement in establishing some common rules that can genuinely govern this phenomenon”.
Cardinal Parolin expressed the hope that everyone might “come together to find answers because, it seems to me, the future of humanity is really at stake here”.
Asked about his participation in the United Nations General Assembly and whether he would use the occasion to call for the creation of an international board to oversee artificial intelligence, the cardinal played down the idea.
“Probably we are not going to look for immediate technical solutions at this stage,” he said. “The Holy See normally sets out and puts forward principles. Then the solution to the problem of cooperation will have to be found by those concerned, at the level of states and of the bodies involved.”
Asked about his personal use of AI, the cardinal said: “Today artificial intelligence is imposing itself, because when you open your computer and read something, it already gives you a summary”.
He added that he certainly does not use AI for his homilies: “Artificial intelligence is all head and no heart. I try to put a little heart into my homilies”.
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Parolin ‘concerned’ over states ‘going it alone’ on AI (Vatican News)
