Thank God for Pope Leo.
At a moment when the tech overlords of Silicon Valley are engaged in a race to see how many billions of dollars they can haul in by imposing artificial intelligence on the rest of us, and while political leaders are either bought off, befuddled or blissfully oblivious about AI, the pope is calling upon us all to face up to the profound existential challenge AI presents for humanity.
In a 42,300 word papal encyclical, Leo has stated what should be obvious to anyone who understands AI’s potential to alter the lives of everyone on the planet: If AI is allowed to develop without any moral, ethical or legal guidelines, with the overriding goal being the creation of vast wealth for a small number of people, it will pose a threat to the very nature of human existence. The pope stressed the importance of meaningful work for human beings and challenged politicians and businessmen to establish laws and programs to protect workers from being made superfluous as AI takes over more and more jobs.
“A society that guarantees employment to only a small fraction of the population, despite having a high level of technical development, risks exposing many to forced inactivity,” Leo wrote. “This creates a paradox of material progress and anthropological regression that undermines the foundations of a just and stable social peace.”
The pope urged that children be protected from the exploitation and psychological harm that technology has already enabled, effects that would be vastly multiplied by AI. And he called on leaders to resist the temptation to create autonomous AI-controlled weapons that could make wars too easy and automatic.
Of course, the worshippers of the Golden Calf of capitalism — in the Trump administration and among the tech bros — immediately said Leo should not intrude on issues that are not the business of spiritual leaders. They, thereby, demonstrated their moral obtuseness and showed exactly why they cannot be entrusted with the unfettered deployment of AI. In truth, given the potential for human beings to be devalued and discarded, the rise of artificial intelligence is very much a spiritual issue.
Pope Leo is a prophetic voice crying in the wilderness, even if amoral politicians and avaricious corporate bosses refuse to listen.
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