Pope will take his call for ethical artificial intelligence to the G7 summit in southern Italy in June

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is conveying his call to develop and use artificial intelligence along ethical lines to the Group of Seven industrialized countries.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Friday that Francis had accepted her invitation to attend the G7 summit in Puglia in June. The Vatican confirmed the news.

Meloni, who currently heads the G7, is hosting the June 13-15 summit of leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States.

In a video statement, Meloni said on Friday that Francis would be the first pope to attend a G7 summit and take part in the session dedicated to artificial intelligence.

“I am convinced that His Holiness’ presence will make a decisive contribution to the definition of a regulatory, ethical and cultural framework for artificial intelligence,” Meloni said.

Francis has called for an international treaty to ensure AI is developed and used ethically, and this year dedicated his annual peace message to the issue.

Artificial intelligence has captured the world’s attention thanks to the advancement of advanced systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which have dazzled users with the ability to produce human-like text, photos and songs. But the technology has also raised fears about the risks that rapidly developing technology poses to employment, privacy and copyright protection, and even to human life itself.

The Vatican’s bioethics think tank, the Pontifical Academy for Life, has also led a campaign to get major technology companies, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations to pledge to uphold a set of standards in the ethical development and use of AI, with Cisco Systems the latest signatory this week.

At the recently concluded G7 Foreign Ministers meeting last weekend in Capri, Italy, ministers highlighted the cybersecurity risks posed by AI and recognized the “importance of advancing our efforts to create secure, secure and trustworthy AI that is human-centric and human rights-oriented.” -based.”

The Associated Press