On January 1, 1968, Pope Saint Paul VI published the first message for the celebration of the “Day of Peace.” The papal successors have continued to offer humanity a message for the “World Day of Peace”, in accordance with the most varied circumstances.
“It would be our wish – wrote Paul VI – that, every year, this celebration would be repeated as a harbinger and as a promise, at the beginning of the calendar that measures and describes the path of life in time, that it would be Peace with its just and beneficial balance that dominates the development of future history.” And it has been the search for peace that has inspired the supreme pontiffs in their message for the “Day of Peace.”
This year, Pope Francis, on the 57th World Day of Peace, reflects on the theme “Artificial intelligence and peace.” Perhaps the underlying purpose of Pope Francis in his message is expressed in the last paragraph:
“My prayer at the beginning of the new year is that the rapid development of forms of artificial intelligence will not increase the already numerous inequalities and injustices present in the world, but will help to end wars and conflicts, and alleviate so many forms of suffering that “affects the human family.”
Francis welcomes forms of artificial intelligence for the goods they have produced and are producing in the various orders of human life – economic, communicative, commercial… -, but warns of the risks that the irresponsible use of artificial intelligence entails a prevailing technocratic, efficient and immediate mentality. Because “scientific research and technological innovations are not disembodied from reality nor are they “neutral”, but are subject to cultural influences” and the personal and social values of those who create and use them.
Pope Francis writes: “Artificial intelligence must be understood as a galaxy of different realities and we cannot presume a priori that its development makes a beneficial contribution to the future of humanity and to peace between peoples. Such a positive outcome will be possible if we are able to act responsibly and respect fundamental human values such as inclusion, transparency, security, fairness, privacy and responsibility.”
Throughout the text of the message we find some repeated words, as supporting points of the discourse, which express the feelings of its author, the network of ideas that he advocates and the ideologies against which he shows prevention or rejection.
Words such as ethical values, human rights, dignity of the person, common good, justice and peace… are a sample of Francis’ thinking, who wants these realities to be safeguarded; Words like technocratic system, technocratic paradigm, efficiency mentality… express the world in which economic aspects prevail over the human values of fraternity, respect, solidarity, and generate increasingly alarming inequalities that threaten justice and peace.
For this reason, Pope Francis calls on everyone to make a calm discernment about the forms of artificial intelligence. The same pontiff in his message already takes a clear position regarding the technocratic paradigm, but he also points to other “hot ethical” problems that society must resolve and alludes to the challenges that affect education and international law.
Faced with the ambivalence of artificial intelligence and its use, Pope Francis asks a question that expresses his fears, but whose answer can dispel or confirm such fears: “Will we turn swords into plowshares?” That is to say, will the scientific and technical advance that artificial intelligence represents contribute to the good of peace or to the manufacture of increasingly lethal weapons and their use in war?
Ultimately, artificial intelligence, like so many instruments in the hands of man, can be used for the universal common good or for evil, personal gain or for the benefit of some countries.
Given the complexity and scope of all forms of artificial intelligence, the Pope sees it as necessary for the challenges of this reality to be faced interdisciplinary and at a global level and for a regulation, an ethical guide, to be established, to which adjust researchers and users, public authorities and investors.
Pope Francis says: “The work of drafting ethical guidelines for the production of forms of artificial intelligence cannot ignore the consideration of deeper questions, related to the meaning of human existence, the protection of fundamental rights and the search for justice and peace. This process of ethical and legal discernment can be revealed as a valuable occasion for shared reflection on the role that technology should have in our personal and community life and how its use could contribute to the creation of a more just and humane world.”
In short, Pope Francis’ message involves some anthropological and ethical components that our world needs and that I hope the governmental and economic powers would accept and assume to achieve greater equality between peoples and a more genuine fraternity to achieve true peace.
