Put aside all prejudices and preconceptions, close your eyes and then try to visualize this scene: a Pope publishing an ethical guide to artificial intelligence (AI). Done? Well, open your eyes: it really happened, friends. Vatican feat. Silicon Valley, you are never bored in this world.
I'll take a step back: perhaps not all of you know that the Vatican has decided to dive headlong into the forest of artificial intelligence, giving life toInstitute for Technology, Ethics and Culture (ITEC). This body, born from the collaboration with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, has as its mission the promotion of deep reflection on the impact of technology on humanity, bringing together leaders from various sectors of society.
The future between technology and ethics
ITEC's first task is the subject of the article you are reading: the publication of a manual, entitled “Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap”. This text aims to guide technology companies through the many gray areas of AI ethics. And that's not all: it also touches on topics such as encryption, tracking and facial recognition technologies.
Father Brendan McGuire, an ITEC consultant, said the idea was to use the Vatican's convening power to bring together experts from around the world. The purpose? Answer the deeper questions that emerge as technology advances.
Vatican ethical bridge to Silicon Valley: an ethical bridge
There is no doubt that the existence of ITEC is an unmistakable sign of the real and potentially transformative power of AI. For example, Your Holiness has never published a 140-page guide on cryptocurrencies. And not because Midjourney he took out some of his “photos” with the windbreaker and the bad guy attitude.
Be careful, though: the ITEC manual cannot replace government regulation. Father Brendan himself says it: the manual is the "fruit of an unlikely cooperation". Yet despite the gigantic differences between the Vatican and Silicon Valley, it is important to have found common ground in the field of technological ethics.
Now it just remains to be seen whether companies will be inclined to follow these guidelines, while we wait for regulators to intervene. Because their intervention could take a long, long time.
In the meantime, we are as they say “in the hands of the Lord”.
