A Franciscan friar has been appointed by the Italian government to head the Artificial Intelligence Commission (AI). Although the new committee was just established in late 2023, It aims to explore the various impacts that the introduction of artificial intelligence has on journalism and general publishing.
Friar Paolo Benanti, 50, is an expert in algorithmic ethics and has been a member of the United Nations’ advisory body on AI issues since October 2023. As the only Italian on the UN’s advisory board, he was a natural choice for Italy to tackle AI issues.
One of Father Paolo’s first tasks as president of the AI Commission will be to prepare a report detailing the current state of AI in Italy and submit it to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
In 2023, Friar Paolo gave a TEDx talk explaining the ethics needed in the AI discussion. The video is in Italian, but YouTube provides English subtitles.
In an interview with L’Osservatore Romano, Friar Paolo compared the evolution of AI technology to advances in the means of war in the 20th century.
“Think about a negative but unfortunately everyday domain like war. Guns, machine guns, bombs, and atomic bombs are some of the innovations of war. On the other hand, development is about innovating and turning it into something that also looks at social good, the common good.”
Friar Paolo’s views on AI are largely in line with Pope Francis He has been an outspoken voice calling for caution in pursuing the integration of AI into society. In fact, this was the theme of the Pope’s message for this year’s World Day of Peace.
In March 2023, Friar Paolo attended a meeting with Pope Francis, where the Pope discussed the need for a well-understood ethics regarding the integration of AI into society.
Pope Francis pointed out that algorithms that process edited data manipulate information about people’s pasts, and called for caution in entrusting social and economic decisions to artificial intelligence. This, the Pope argues, can rob a person of the opportunity to grow and change.
“This data can be contaminated by social biases and preconceptions, especially if an individual’s past behavior is not used to deny the individual the opportunity to change, grow, and contribute to society. We cannot allow algorithms to limit or condition respect for human dignity or eliminate compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and especially openness to an individual’s desire for change. ”
