Pope Francis on Thursday, called for world leaders to adopt a global treaty on the use of artificial intelligence to ensure it is used ethically.
The 86-year-old pontiff made the appeal in a six-page message published ahead of the Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace on January 1, which this year is focused on the theme of AI.
While welcoming advances in science and technology that have reduced human suffering, Francis warned that some discoveries have the effect of “placing in human hands a vast array of options, including some that may pose a risk to our survival and endanger our common home”.
He highlighted the dangers of using AI, including in disinformation and interference in elections, and also to make decisions from social security payments to where to target weapons for which responsibility becomes blurred.