Put aside any prejudices and preconceptions, close your eyes and then try to visualize this scene: a Pope who publishes an ethics guide to artificial intelligence (AI). Done? Well, open your eyes: it really happened, friends. Vatican feat. Silicon Valley, it never gets boring in this world.
I take a step back: perhaps not everyone knows that the Vatican has decided to dive headlong into the forest of artificial intelligence, giving life to theInstitute for Technology, Ethics and Culture (ITEC). This body, born from the collaboration with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics of the University of Santa Clara, has as its mission the promotion of a profound reflection on the impact of technology on humanity, bringing together leaders from various sectors of society.
The future between technology and ethics
The first task of the ITEC 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 has the ambition 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 adviser to the ITEC, 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 arise as technology advances.
Vatican ethical bridge to Silicon Valley: an ethical bridge
There is no question that the existence of the ITEC is an unmistakable sign of the real and potentially transformative power of AI. To say, Holiness of him has never published a 140-page guide on cryptocurrencies. And not because Midjourney pulled out of his "pictures" with the windbreaker and bad guy attitude.
But be careful: the ITEC manual cannot replace government regulation. Father Brendan himself says it: the manual is the "fruit of an improbable cooperation". Yet despite the gigantic differences between the Vatican and Silicon Valley, it is important that we have found common ground in the field of technology 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".
