it is unacceptable that a person’s life depends on an algorithm

Francis spoke to the promoters of the “Rome Call for AI Ethics”, an initiative of the Pontifical Academy for Life that brings together Christians, Jews and Muslims to care for human dignity in new digital technologies. And in the message for the Day of the Sick, he asked governments for access to health care for all, beyond the structural limits that Covid-19 revealed.

Vatican City () – Artificial intelligence also requires ethics. For example, it is not acceptable that the life and fate of someone seeking asylum depend on the calculations of an algorithm, Pope Francis said today at the audience he granted in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall to the promoters of the “Rome Call for AI Ethics”, an interreligious initiative of the Pontifical Academy for Life that proposes “a wise and spiritual alliance, to protect, in the spirit of Fratelli tutti, human dignity in this age of technological penetration”.

Together with Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Vatican body, some of the first signatories of the appeal were present at the audience: Rabbi Rawson Weisz, Sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah and personalities from the technology industry such as Microsoft President Brad Smith, the Vice President of IBM, Darío Gil and the Chief Economist of the FAO, Máximo Torero Cullen.

“We are all aware that artificial intelligence is increasingly present in all aspects of daily life, both personal and social -said Pope Francis-“. “It affects our way of understanding the world and ourselves” and its tools “are increasingly decisive in human activities and even decisions”.

“I am pleased to know – continued the pontiff – that they also want to involve the other great religions of the world and men and women of good will so that algorithmics, that is, ethical reflection on the use of algorithms, is increasingly present not only in the public debate but also in the development of technical solutions. Indeed, every person should be able to enjoy a human and solidary development, without anyone being excluded”.

That is why he invited everyone to be vigilant “so that the discriminatory use of these tools is not affirmed at the expense of the most fragile and at the expense of the excluded. Let us always remember that the way in which we treat the last and least considered of our brothers and sisters reveals the value that we recognize in the human being. We can take asylum applications as an example: it is not acceptable that the decision on the life and destiny of a human being be entrusted to an algorithm”.

The Pope’s message for the World Day of the Sick released today by the Vatican Press Office also addresses the issue of caring for the most fragile. Take care of him. Compassion as a synodal healing exercise is the theme chosen for the day that the Church celebrates on February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, which this year reaches its 33rd edition. In the message, Francis refers to the Synod that is taking place and affirms that “when we walk together, it is normal for someone to feel bad, to have to stop due to fatigue or some setback. It is there, in those moments, when we can see how we are walking: if we really walk together, or if we are going the same way, but each one does it on their own, looking out for their own interests and letting the others ‘fend for themselves’ ‘”.

But then he also invites us to broaden this look at its social implications: “The years of the pandemic -says the pontiff- have increased our feeling of gratitude towards those who work every day for health and research. But from such a great collective tragedy, it is not enough to come out honoring a few heroes. COVID-19 put this great network of capacities and solidarity to the test, and showed the structural limits of the current welfare systems. Therefore, it is necessary -he concludes- that gratitude be accompanied by an active search, in each country, for strategies and resources, so that all human beings are guaranteed access to assistance and the fundamental right to health “.