PUGLIA – The Italian presidency of the G7 «intends to enhance the path «promoted by the Holy See on Artificial Intelligence with the “Rome Call for AI Ethics” and «bring it to the attention of other leaders at the summit in Puglia».
Thus Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a video message in which she announces «the participation of Pope Francis in the work of the G7 precisely in the session dedicated to Artificial Intelligence».
«I am convinced that the presence of His Holiness will make a decisive contribution to the definition of a regulatory, ethical and cultural framework for artificial intelligence». Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni added in the video message in which she announced the Pope’s participation in the G7 session dedicated to AI: «I heartily thank the Holy Father for having accepted Italy’s invitation, his presence gives prestige to our nation and to the entire G7. It is the first time that the Pontiff participates in the work of the Group of 7, and the Holy Father will do so in the Outreach session, which is also open to the invited countries and not just to the members of the G7″.
On this terrain, on the present and on the future” of artificial intelligence “our capacity, the capacity of the international community, will once again be measured to do what on 2 October 1979 another pope, Saint John Paul II, recalled in his famous speech at the United Nations: ‘Political activity, national and international, comes from man, is exercised through man and is for man. This will always be our commitment and our path.” Thus Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the video message in which she announces the Pope’s participation in the G7 session dedicated to AI.
«Many, and not wrongly, believe» that the advent of Artificial Intelligence is «the greatest anthropological challenge of this era – adds the Prime Minister -: a technology that can generate great opportunities but also brings with it great risks, as well as inevitably affecting global balances. Our commitment is to develop governance mechanisms to ensure that AI is human-centered and human-controlled, that is, that it keeps the person at the center and has the person as its ultimate goal.”
According to Meloni, «it is a challenge that none of us can think of facing alone and I think it is fundamental to valorise the best of the ethical and intellectual reflection that is developing in this area. I am thinking, for example, of the path started by the Holy See in 2022 with the Rome Call for AI Ethics, a path that leads to giving concrete application to the concept of algorithmics, that is, giving ethics to algorithms”. And to “enhance” this path, Italy “intends to bring it to the attention of other leaders at the summit in Puglia” from 13 to 15 June.
«The Pope has already dedicated two messages to artificial intelligence (AI), confirming how much he realizes that it is a trench, a frontier of our humanity, of the way in which we will be able to build a new anthropology, a humanistic thought in the era of technology.” Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication, said this, commenting on the announcement made by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni regarding Pope Francis’ participation in the G7 work on artificial intelligence.
Ruffini is in Bari where he takes part in the round table entitled Artificial intelligence and wisdom of the heart: for fully human communication. AI «is one of the fundamental themes that I think will be at the center of the debates in the coming years and which concerns war, it concerns the use of artificial intelligence in armaments – he continued -, armaments which can be autonomous, delegated only to artificial intelligence”. «Perhaps a thought is needed there and it is important that the world’s leaders have realized how much artificial intelligence has to do with our future and it is true that they see in Pope Francis a guide beyond those believes and those who do not believe.”
The leaders of the most developed countries, according to Ruffini, see in the Pontiff “a long, human thought that starts from not delegating to something outside”. «When the Pope says the heart, he says exactly this to us: machines have a great computing capacity, certainly superior to that of a man, but it is we who program the machines, who can negotiate what the machines can do on their own and what not,” he continued.
«I think that the great people of the Earth need someone who can make them face the evidence of the challenges that we are facing as humanity». Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication, said this, commenting on the announcement made by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni regarding Pope Francis’ participation in the G7 work on artificial intelligence.
«Perhaps the great people of the Earth – he added on the sidelines of the round table entitled Artificial intelligence and wisdom of the heart: for fully human communication, in Bari – need to understand that we are all small because we will build destiny together, only together will we build a better world. And the Pope repeats this continuously.” «The heart that machines lack is put in by man – he added -. And without a heart we don’t go anywhere. We will not build a better world with an artificial heart.”
«Artificial intelligence itself is neither intelligent nor artificial. It is not intelligent because it is a calculating fool and it is not artificial because we are the ones driving it. And – he concluded – we must guide it with our heart as Pope Francis says”.
ARCHBISHOP OF BARI: «MELONI APPRECIATED THE POPE’S WORK»
«The fact that the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, wanted Pope Francis» to participate in the G7 in the session dedicated to artificial intelligence «is a sign that she appreciated what the Pontiff said» because «he is insisting a lot on the value of artificial intelligence but also on the dangers that artificial intelligence can pose for the human race if an ethical barrier is not put in place.” The archbishop of Bari-Bitonto, Monsignor Giuseppe Satriano, said this on the sidelines of the round table taking place in Bari, entitled Artificial intelligence and wisdom of the heart: for fully human communication.
«The themes that the Pope addresses are significant and fundamental» and are «the care of the common home, therefore the good of all, and brotherhood. And these themes are two declinations with which we can find the possibility of making artificial intelligence a significant innovation for the history of humanity, not a destructive reality as many fear. And this, I believe, could also be an appeal to the powerful of the Earth.”
«After all, throughout the history of humanity since stone, iron, gunpowder and nuclear power were discovered, we have had great opportunities for the history of humanity» which become opportunities «missed where it is polarized attention on one’s self and not on us”.
Emiliano’s joy
«With great joy we welcomed the news that Pope Francis will be present in Puglia on the occasion of the G7. His lofty vision of things, his ability to analyze the present, his incessant commitment to building peace, his depth in knowing how to get straight to people’s hearts will offer a fundamental contribution to the international debate. For us all it will be a very important opportunity for reflection, dialogue between peoples and collective growth.” These are the words of the president of the Puglia Region, Michele Emiliano.
Puglia ready to welcome Pope Francis to the G7
«Pope Francis will be in Puglia for the G7: Prime Minister Meloni’s announcement can only fill everyone with joy. The presence of the Holy Father will also be a message of peace for the whole world, precisely on the occasion of the meeting of leaders who will have to address the hottest international issues. Puglia will be ready to welcome him.” This was declared by the regional commissioner of Forza Italia in Puglia, Mauro D’Attis.
