In January, the Vatican released a new document on the Artificial Intelligence. The document, Antiqua et Nova (ancient and new), is a collaboration between the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education. In it, the Vatican calls for AI leaders of all kinds to ensure that artificial intelligence “supports and promotes the supreme value of the dignity of every human being and the fullness of the human vocation.”
The document opens defining what artificial intelligence is. It quotes American computer scientist John McCarthy, who in 1956 defined artificial intelligence as, “that of making a machine behave in ways that would be called intelligent if a human were so behaving.” However, the document underscores that while AI technologies can perform tasks, they cannot themselves think – that unique ability is done by humans alone. Rather, AI “remains fundamentally confined to a logical-mathematical framework.”
Role of Ethics
As AI technology advances, the Vatican calls for an ethical framework based on human dignity. “It is essential to emphasize the importance of moral responsibility grounded in the dignity and vocation of the human person” (emphasis in original).
Contemporary Questions
In the final section, the document addresses several contemporary AI questions including privacy, warfare, education, and the economy.
This section also contains concerns about AI becoming a substitute for real human friendships. “Anthropomorphizing AI also poses specific challenges for the development of children, potentially encouraging them to develop patterns of interaction that treat human relationships in a transactional manner.”
These worries are already bearing out – a recent survey said 16% of “vulnerable children” who use AI chatbots do so for companionship.
Last week, Msgr. James Shea joined Drew Mariani and praised Antiqua et nova. “It’s one of the most substantive, clear and helpful documents [from the Vatican] in a very long time.”
Pope Leo
In his short pontificate, the Holy Father has already spoken about AI. Last month, during the Second Annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence, the Holy Father noted that Generative 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.”