Pope Leo Has A Warning On Artificial Intelligence

It’s actually a different type of warning

Pope Leo XIV warns about artificial intelligence: “Machines are instruments, not people”

Pope Leo XIV warned this Friday, October 30, about the risks of attributing rights or legal personality to artificial intelligence systems and called for decisions related to human life, freedom, and the use of force to always remain under human control. During an audience at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Pontiff also urged progress toward the prohibition of lethal autonomous weapons and the establishment of international mechanisms to ensure technological development serves the common good.

The Holy Father received participants in the meeting “The Future of AI: A Dialogue between the Vatican and the Scientific World on the Developments and Applications of Intelligent Technologies,” organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Future of Life Institute. In his address, Leo XIV outlined five considerations on human responsibility regarding these technologies, drawing on the teachings of his encyclical Magnifica humanitas and recalling that technical progress cannot take precedence over the dignity of the person.

Below, we offer the full speech of Pope Leo XIV: (snip)

The Pontifical Academy for Life, which has organized this meeting, is very aware of the challenges that arise wherever human dignity is threatened. In this regard, addressing the leaders of the G7, Pope Francis described artificial intelligence as “a fascinating and tremendous instrument at the same time” and stated that the decision to take a human life should never be entrusted to a machine (cf. Address at the G7 Session on Artificial Intelligence, June 14, 2024). Those words remain more relevant than ever. In the encyclical Magnifica humanitas I have sought to address these issues in greater depth. Today I would like to offer you five considerations in particular.

He has a point: Mankind should stay in control. Mankind should be the ones putting in the blocks and giving the orders. However, in, say, a shooting war, how much autonomy is programmed in? Say a big drone strike is launched from Ukraine on Russia: how much latitude do the drones and potential controlling AI have to attack targets of opportunity?

Second, machines are instruments, not persons. “So-called artificial intelligences do not live an experience, do not possess a body, do not go through joy and pain, do not mature in relationship, do not know from within what love, work, friendship, and responsibility mean” (n. 99). Today some propose granting rights to these systems, or even legal personality. Such an approach risks obscuring human responsibility and leaving those who suffer harm to confront a faceless entity.

So far, I haven’t seen any going full moonbat and calling for granting rights, but, hell, I’ve read enough science fiction to know it will come. They’ve pushed to grant rights to animals, so, it seems as if the Pope is getting ahead of the curve of wackadoodle. But, maybe, one day in the far future, AI will truly be sentient and deserve rights. We aren’t even close right now.