Friar Paolo Benanti
wears the simple brown robe of the medieval Franciscan order as he addresses one of the most pressing issues of contemporary times:
how to control artificial intelligence
so that it enriches - and does not exploit - people's lives.
Benanti is the Vatican's point person on technology and
has the attention of Pope
Francis, as well as some of Silicon Valley's top engineers and executives.
With a background in engineering, a doctorate in moral theology and a passion for what he calls
the "ethics of technology
," the 50-year-old Italian priest is on an urgent mission that he shares with Francis, who, in his annual message of peace to 2024, advocated for
an international treaty
to ensure the ethical use of artificial intelligence technology.
"A machine that becomes human"
“What is
the difference between a man that exists and a machine that works
?” Benanti asked in an interview this week with The Associated Press during a break at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he teaches courses in moral theology and bioethics, among others. others, to students preparing for the priesthood.
“This is perhaps the most important question of these times, because we are witnessing an increasingly greater challenge in the face of
a machine that is becoming more human
.”
Benanti is a member of the United Nations Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence and head of an Italian government commission tasked with providing recommendations on
how to protect journalism from fake news
and other forms of disinformation.
He is also a consultant to the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life.
Benanti is a member of the United Nations Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence.
Photo: AP
Benanti says it
helps “better clarify the more technical terms for the Holy Father
” during his meetings.
His knowledge proved useful for a meeting at the Vatican in 2023 between Francis and Microsoft President Brad Smith, which focused on how AI could help or harm humanity.
Francis and Smith had also discussed artificial intelligence “at the service of the common good” during a meeting a few years earlier, according to the Vatican.
With a papacy very attentive to those who live on the margins of society, Francis has made clear his fear that artificial intelligence technology
could limit human rights
, for example, negatively impacting a mortgage buyer's application. housing, a migrant's asylum application or the assessment of the likelihood of a criminal repeating a crime.
“It is clear that if we choose some data that is not inclusive enough, we will have some options that are not inclusive,” said Benanti, whose religious order was founded in the early 13th century by St. Francis of Assisi, who renounced earthly riches. and promoted works of charity.
Friar Paolo Benanti wears the simple brown tunic of the medieval Franciscan order.
Photo: EFE
Microsoft first
contacted Benanti several years ago to get his thoughts on the technology, the friar said.
In 2023, Smith did a podcast with Benanti in Rome and defined the friar as contributing to the debate on AI “
one of the most fascinating combinations in the world
” due to his experience in engineering, ethics and technology.
Benanti, who was a year away from earning an engineering degree at Rome's Sapienza University when he dropped out (
and his girlfriend
) to join the Franciscans when he was 20, explained how AI could be a “very powerful tool” to reduce the cost of medications and empower doctors to help more people.
But he also listed the ethical implications of a technology that could have the same capabilities as a human being or perhaps even more.
"It is not a problem of use (of AI) but
a problem of governance
," said the friar.
"And that's where ethics comes into play: finding the appropriate level of use within a social context."
Benanti arrives for an interview with AP in Rome.
Photo: AP
Benanti noted that much of the data that informs AI
comes from low-wage workers,
many of them from developing countries with a history of colonialism and exploited workers.
"I don't want this to be remembered as the time when
we extracted cognitive resources from the global south
," he said.
If you study “the best tools we are producing in AI” in the West, you will see that AI is “trained with low-paid workers from former English-speaking colonies.”
A central theme at the G7 summit
How to govern AI is an issue that countries around the world are trying to solve.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who worries that AI could lead to job losses, will make the technology
a central topic at this year's G7 summit
hosted by Italy.
The European Union led the way late last year when negotiators reached an agreement that paves the way for legal oversight of artificial intelligence technology.
For his part, Benanti said that
regulating
artificial intelligence
should not mean limiting its development.
“It means making them continue to be compatible with that fragile system that is democracy, which today seems to be the best system,” he stated.
Translation: Elisa Carnelli