Pope Leo | AI must help and not hinder children and young people's development
VATICAN NEWS
"AI has opened new horizons on many different levels, including enhancing research in healthcare and scientific discovery, but also raises troubling questions on its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, on our distinctive ability to grasp and process reality. "
Pope Leo XIV made this observation in his message to the Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
He noted their presence "attests to the urgent need for serious reflection and ongoing discussion on the inherently ethical dimension of AI, as well as its responsible governance," and expressed he was pleased that the second day of the Conference takes place in the Apostolic Palace, "a clear indication of the Church’s desire to participate in these discussions that directly affect the present and future of our human family."
"Together with its extraordinary potential to benefit the human family, the rapid development of AI, the Pope warned, "also raises deeper questions" concerning the proper use of such technology in generating a more authentically just and human global society.
While AI is "undoubtedly an exceptional product of human genius," he underscored, as Pope Francis did in the past, that AI, is, “above all else, 'a tool.'”
"All of us, I am sure, are concerned for children and young people, and the possible consequences of the use of AI on their intellectual and neurological development."