Pope Francis, who has been victimized by the technology, called Thursday for a global treaty to regulate artificial intelligence. In his message marking the World Day of Peace, the pope acknowledged the possible benefits of AI, the Washington Post reports, describing the technology as "brilliant." But it also could be devastatingly destructive, he said, potentially threatening human survival, and must be regulated. Cardinal Michael Czerny addressed the responsibility in introducing the pope's message at a Vatican press conference. "Artificial intelligence may well represent the highest-stakes gamble of our future," Czerny said. "If it turns out badly, humanity is to blame."
The pope said he's not trying to stop AI's advance. "The goal of regulation, naturally, should not only be the prevention of harmful practices but also the encouragement of best practices, by stimulating new and creative approaches and encouraging individual or group initiatives," he wrote. Of the dangers, he focused on remote weapons systems that put greater distance between those who employ them and their targets, per the AP. "The unique capacity for moral judgment and ethical decision-making is more than a complex collection of algorithms," he said, "and that capacity cannot be reduced to programming a machine."
An AI-generated image of the pope wearing a luxury white puffer jacket went viral earlier the year, illustrating how real-looking deepfake imagery can spread and mislead. The US has no AI regulations, and a lawmaker said Thursday the government isn't ready to join such a worldwide effort, per Politico. "There is more work to do at the national level before we can establish global obligations and restrictions on the use of AI," said Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the Intelligence Committee. (More Pope Francis stories.)
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