Dear friends,<\/p>\n
Truly, we are experiencing the \u201cchange of an age,\u201d as Pope Francis often reminds us, and we are more aware of that change than ever.\u00a0 It is the reason why we are here today.<\/p>\n
While humanity has already lived through many periods of radical transformation, we are faced today with a technological innovation that is particularly \u201cdisruptive\u201d both in its pace, which is ever faster, and in its pervasiveness, as it touches directly the life of, not only individuals, but of society as well.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m referring to \u201cemergent and convergent technologies\u201d that allow us to intervene deeply within living matter, acting on the molecular basis of the human body.\u00a0 These technologies lead us even to the question of human life itself, changing our understanding of it and opening the possibility of modifying it as well.\u00a0 Pope Francis, in the letter he wrote to the Pontifical Academy for Life, Humana Communitas<\/em>, urged us to broaden our horizons, to understand more deeply the meaning of the words \u201chuman life.\u201d<\/p>\n Within this framework, we cannot avoid our responsibility for preventing disastrous outcomes. \u00a0How can we stop man from becoming merely technological and instead humanize technology?\u00a0\u00a0 How can we avoid being controlled by an \u201calgo-cracy,\u201d that is, by the power of algorithms?\u00a0 Shouldn\u2019t we develop a vision of society and of the future of our planet where man is the master and not a slave?<\/p>\n First of all, I think it is important to avoid giving doctrinal or authoritarian power to either government or private business interests.\u00a0 But this avoidance is possible only if ethics is given a role, not only when a product is \u201cbuilt and in the box,\u201d with nothing left to be done but to (try to) regulate its use.\u00a0 Rather, ethics should have a role during the whole process of research and development.\u00a0 In other words, it is not enough to try to regulate technological devices themselves, leaving to the end user the decision on their proper application based on abstract and generic considerations of respect for individual rights and dignity.\u00a0 After the fact, experience tells us, recourse to ethical principles is almost useless.\u00a0 Certainly, the principles that underlie the social teaching of the Church\u2014such as dignity, justice, subsidiarity, and solidarity\u2014are never to be abandoned.\u00a0 The complexity, moreover, of the contemporary technological world guarantees that without the guidance these principles provide, fruitful dialogue among those who inhabit that world will be very difficult to establish. \u00a0We need an ethics that influences the criteria that underlie both algorithm design and the responsibilities of those who participate in the various stages of algorithm formulation.<\/p>\n In my opinion, ethics is called to accompany the entire production cycle of technological devices, starting with the choice of projects in which to invest.\u00a0 This is possible if we identify an inter-disciplinary ethics model in which different skills play a role in each phase of product development\u2014research, design, production, distribution, individual and entity use.\u00a0 The goal in the new era of Artificial Intelligence is to ensure skilled and shared oversight of the processes that govern the interaction between humans and machines.<\/p>\n Careful however!\u00a0 No one member of society can carry out this task alone.\u00a0 Dialogue and cooperation among all parties is essential to ensure that the interest uniting them is that of keeping our \u201ccommon home\u201d safe and providing for peaceful coexistence within the entire \u201chuman family.\u201d\u00a0 Today, there is no field in which global vision can be ignored, particularly where technology is concerned.<\/p>\n This is what today’s meeting is all about.\u00a0 Faced with the enormous challenges that technology presents, we are asked to take a qualitative leap toward a peaceful future for our planet.\u00a0 We can learn from history and grasp an analogy with what happened after the Second World War.\u00a0 People, after the dramatic experience of totalitarianisms that had trampled on the dignity of peoples and its expressions, took that qualitative moral leap forward and produced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.\u00a0 Dear friends, we must not wait for similar new devastation before we take action.\u00a0 We can and must protect against it before it happens.\u00a0 As a human family, we must reaffirm and promote pro-actively the right of all peoples to inhabit the earth with their diversity and in peace.<\/p>\n In light of these reflections, the Academy has begun a path of cooperation with a number of interlocutors:\u00a0 academics, civil society and companies that produce these technologies.\u00a0 The Call for Commitment that we will sign today is a first step.\u00a0 Faced with changes brought about by technological innovation, we are called by our mission to respond.\u00a0\u00a0 We plan study and action in support of technological innovation that advances authentic human development and promotes the common good.\u00a0 We intend to pursue the possibilities for a humanism adapted to the digital age.\u00a0 In addition to representatives of the international academic world who have joined us, we have also found two companies, IBM and Microsoft, that share the Academy\u2019s foundational principles.\u00a0 In addition, participation by major governmental institutions, such as the European Parliament, represented by its President, and by an international agency like the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, in the person of its Secretary-General, give us confidence for the future.\u00a0 The spirit of today\u2019s Call for Commitment is not one of limitation in the number of participants, but rather of expansion.\u00a0 We want to create a movement that grows and attracts others\u2014like public entities, non-governmental organizations, industries, the service sector\u2014to provide an ethical orientation in the development and use of technologies derived from Artificial Intelligence.\u00a0 From this point of view, today\u2019s first signatures on our Call for Commitment are just the beginning of something that is more urgent and more important than anything done in this area to date.\u00a0 Each of us present here today is called on to become involved and to make our own personal contributions.\u00a0 Thank you very much.<\/p>\n February 28, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n