"In order to meet the challenges of AI, the Rome Appeal proposes an algorethics, that is, an ethics of algorithms, capable of acting not as an instrument of containment, but as an orientation and guide, based on the principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church: dignity of the person, justice, subsidiarity and solidarity. The addressees are society as a whole, organizations, governments, institutions, international technology companies: all are needed to share a sense of responsibility that guarantees to all humanity a future in which digital innovation and technological progress put the human being at the center".
This is one of the key passages of the speech delivered by Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, in the framework of the Day of study and formation for journalists, promoted by the ISCOM Association and the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
Technological innovation has always been a feature of the information world. With the power of algorithms, today's Artificial Intelligence increasingly conditions the scenarios of journalism. Automation processes raise ethical, professional and legal questions. They end up affecting the very foundations of the journalistic profession: independence, training, ethics.
Is it possible to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the technological leap while safeguarding the journalist's culture, sense of smell and sensitivity? This is the central question of the initiative that has been debated by academics, information professionals, jurists and digital experts.
Pope Francis, in the audience granted last February 20 to the Pontifical Academy for Life, said the following, in reference to the much broader topic of bioethics: "It is paradoxical to speak of an 'augmented' man if one forgets that the human body refers to the integral good of the person and, therefore, cannot be identified only with the biological organism", a wrong approach in this field actually ends up not by 'augmenting', but by 'compressing' man".
Hence," continues the Pontiff, "the importance of knowledge on a human, organic scale," even in the theological sphere, in order to promote a new humanism, a new technological humanism we might say. The Holy Father's words serve as a kind of backdrop to the reflection of Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, for whom "the core of the debate surrounding artificial intelligence - that is, what makes this specific technology unique and enormously powerful - is its ability to act on its own: AI adapts its behavior according to the situation, analyzes the effects of its previous actions and works autonomously. Advances in computing power, the availability of huge amounts of data and the development of new algorithms have led artificial intelligence to make epochal leaps in recent years."
As for the pervasive influence of Artificial Intelligence, of which few are fully aware, "it is good to read," suggests Paglia, "Susanna Zuboff's book, Surveillance capitalism, in which the author shows the enormous power over our lives of those who hold the data collected and processed through AI over our lives."
To the point - the book says - that the surveillance capitalists know everything about us, while it is impossible for us to know what they know. They accumulate an infinite amount of data and knowledge about us, but not for us. They take advantage of our future so that someone else can benefit, but not us.
As long as surveillance capitalism and its marketplace of future behaviors can thrive, ownership of the new means of behavior modification will eclipse the means of production as a source of wealth and power in the 21st century.
Avoiding a Manichean approach, that is, avoiding enthusiastic adhesions and unfounded exclusions, in line with Day's approach, according to which it is not a matter of choosing between the two extremes, between the ultra-technophiles who extol the praises and exalt the emerging technologies and the technophobic pessimists who demonize them, Paglia draws attention to what he considers "the decisive issue", namely that "these devices have no body. They are machines that can process abstract streams of data. But only machines. The fact that we perceive behaviors or effects of processes with automation leads us to overlook the fact that machines come to us through very different processes. They are an imitation of appearances. In reality, machines do not speak to us, listen to us, or respond to us, simply because they do not even know we exist and do not understand what they are saying to us."
Faced with the risk that the impetuous development of technology may lose sight of the human dimension, the Pontifical Academy for Life organized in 2020 the conference "The Human Dimension of Life".RenAIssance. For a humanistic artificial intelligence', and jointly promoted, on February 28 of the same year in Rome, the signing of an appeal for responsibility.
This appeal took the name - recalls Paglia - of Rome Appeal for the Ethics of AI, and "was signed in the first instance by myself, as president of the Pontifical Academy; by Brad Smith, president of Microsoft; by John Kelly III, deputy CEO of IBM; by Qu Dongyu, director general of the FAO; and by the then Minister for Technological Innovation and Digitalization Paola Pisano on behalf of the Italian government. We were also able to count at the time on the presence and applause of the then President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli".
In order to orient the challenges of AI towards respect for the dignity of every human being, the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life specifies that "the Appeal of Rome proposes an algorethics, that is, an ethics of algorithms, capable of acting not as an instrument of containment, but as orientation and guidance". The Pope says about algorethics: "it aims to ensure a competent and shared verification of the processes by which the relationships between human beings and machines are integrated in our time. In the common pursuit of these objectives, the principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church make a decisive contribution: dignity of the person, justice, subsidiarity and solidarity. They express the commitment to be at the service of each person in his or her integrity, without discrimination or exclusion. But the complexity of the technological world calls for a more articulated ethical elaboration, so that this commitment can be truly "incisive".
Who are the recipients? All of society, answers Paglia, organizations, governments, institutions, international technology companies: "all are needed to share a sense of responsibility that guarantees all of humanity a future in which digital innovation and technological progress put the human being at the center".
What commitments do the signatories undertake and on the basis of what fundamental principles?
There are six, Paglia explains, the guiding principles of conduct that signatories are called upon to observe: "Transparency: in principle, artificial intelligence systems must be understandable; Inclusion: the needs of all human beings must be taken into account so that everyone can benefit and offer all individuals the best possible conditions for expression and development; Responsibility: those who design and implement artificial intelligence solutions must proceed with responsibility and transparency; Impartiality: do not create or act on the basis of bias, thus safeguarding fairness and human dignity; Reliability: artificial intelligence systems must be able to operate reliably; Security and privacy: artificial intelligence systems must operate securely and respect the privacy of users."
The Rome Appeal is above all a cultural movement that wants to bring about change, so much so that it has reached its interreligious signature. "Thus, on January 10 of this year, before the Pope, we presented ourselves together with representatives of the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum (Arab Emirates) and the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. On the same day, after the first signatories of the Rome Appeal confirmed their commitment to the conception and realization of an artificial intelligence that follows its principles, we brought together prominent speakers who analyzed the subject from both a religious and secular perspective," adds Paglia, aware that "religions have played and will continue to play a crucial role in shaping a world in which the human being is at the center of the concept of development. For this reason, an ethical development of artificial intelligence must also be approached from an interfaith perspective. At our January event, the three Abrahamic religions came together to guide humanity's search for meaning in this new era."
The next step - concluded Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia - is the involvement of Eastern religions, with the intention that in 2024, in Japan, "we will join our voices to those of our brothers and sisters of other religious traditions, so that technological conquests are used for the benefit of all, and promote human dignity, equity and justice", and "shared values such as human fraternity, instead of division and mistrust".
