The Church Reflects Upon Artificial Intelligence During Upcoming Assembly

According to Fr. Paolo Benanti, professor of moral theology and ethics at the Gregorian University and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, algorithms, the “magic word” of artificial intelligence, will be a central theme of the plenary assembly from February 25 to 27; so far “no one is willing to tell us fully how they really work,” explained the Franciscan to Francesco Peloso for Vatican Insider. 

“When we entrust people's lives or things of particular value to these algorithms, it becomes necessary to see what the algorithms' criteria of judgment are,” he warned.

The issue of the legal status of robots will also be discussed by the Academy: “If we disclaim manufacturers of all responsibility leaving all weight on users; it's like saying that we insure the machine but then the brakes may not work. This is the challenge we are facing, along with the fact that at the moment we have to invent new categories, new protections and rights for this changing society,” explained Paolo Benanti.