The Papal guidelines on artificial intelligence
(Part 1)
Literally from the very first moment of his being elected Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV made it clear that he will use his infallible Teaching Authority as Pope to give all men and women of goodwill much needed ethical or moral guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in all relevant aspects of daily lives.
The scene will always be imprinted in the minds of some 30 of us business and economic professionals from the Philippines who had just completed a three-day seminar on the uses of AI in business and economic leadership at the prestigious IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain.
Almost coinciding with the last session of the seminar was the announcement from Rome that the Conclave had elected the next Pope to succeed Pope Francis. When the newly elected Pope appeared to address the world, he announced that he had chosen the name Pope Leo XIV because he wanted to follow the example of Pope Leo XIII who, in 1891, issued the first so-called “social encyclical” entitled Rerum Novarum which gave moral and ethical guidelines concerning the First Industrial Revolution (IR 1.0) that ushered in capitalism. Pope Leo XIV specifically referred to Artificial Intelligence (AI) as one of the new technologies introduced in the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) that urgently need moral guidelines to safeguard human dignity, security, transparency, and ethics.
No one should be surprised that a North American Pope would have on top of his mind giving moral guidelines on AI (as well as the other components of IR 4.0 such as robotization, Internet of Things, data analytics, etc.) since his country of origin leads the world in this Fourth Industrial Revolution.
When England led the world in the First Industrial Revolution, moral leaders were caught off guard about the many abuses that IR 1.0 brought with it, e.g., abuses against the human rights of workers, unethical business practices, the destruction of the physical environment through pollution, and many others that were vividly described by novelists like Charles Dickens. The First Industrial Revolution is usually considered to have transpired from 1790 to 1830. Rerum Novarum was issued only in 1891, a century after the appearance of IR 1.0. Pope Leo XIV will make sure that the doctrinal lag will be shorter this time.
No one will deny that IR 1.0 brought many benefits to humanity. The invention of the steam engine, the spinning jenny, and the other capital-intensive technologies associated with the IR 1.0 did much to improve the standards of living of the population, including the masses, although the distribution of income and wealth continued to be inequitable. The same could be said about the subsequent Industrial Revolutions, i.e., IR 2.0 (the Electricity Revolution) and IR 3.0 (the Electronic Revolution). There were, however, the dark sides of the new technologies that went against human dignity, such as low wages, poor working conditions, monopoly prices, production of hazardous wastes, etc.
For over more than a century, succeeding Popes continued to write social encyclicals giving more ethical guidelines as capitalism (and the opposing system of socialism/communism) continued to generate both benefits and costs to humanity. Some of the more famous encyclicals that followed Rerum Novarum were Quadragessimo Anno, Populorum Progressio, Laborem Exercens, Solicitudo Rei Socialis, Centessimus Annus, Laudato Si, and Fratelli Tutti. These papal encyclicals addressed the social and economic problems that resulted from the continuing evolution of modern industrial society, such as worker rights and dignity, economic justice and development, peace and human rights, ecological concerns, and global solidarity.
Analogous to the advent of the technologies that were ushered in by the first and subsequent industrial revolutions, Artificial Intelligence brings a wide range of benefits to society, impacting nearly every aspect of modern living in the 21st century. A quick check with Chat-GPT resulted in the following summary of the main societal benefits of AI:
1. Improved Healthcare. Faster diagnoses using AI-powered tools (e.g., image recognition for cancer detection). Predictive analytics for disease outbreaks and patient deterioration. Personalized treatment through AI-driven analysis of genetic data. Robotic surgery that enhances precision and reduces recovery time. Specific example: AI systems can detect diabetic retinopathy or breast cancer earlier than human doctors in some cases.
2. Safer and Smarter Transportation. Autonomous vehicles (self-driving cars, drones) reduce human error. Traffic management systems improve road safety and reduce congestion. Logistics optimization reduces carbon emissions and delivery times. Specific example: AI helps ride-sharing companies (like Uber) route drivers more efficiently.
3. Enhanced Education. Personalized learning platforms adjust each student’s pace and needs. AI tutors and chatbots provide real-time support and feedback. Automated grading saves teachers time for deeper engagement with students. Specific example: Tools like Duolingo use AI to adapt language lessons for optimal learning.
4. Economic Growth and Innovation. Boosts productivity through automation of routine tasks. Creates new industries and job opportunities (AI ethics, data labeling, etc.). Supports decision-making in businesses through predictive models and data analytics. Specific example: AI tools help small businesses forecast sales and optimize inventory.
5. Environmental Protection. Climate modeling and disaster prediction help mitigate environmental risks. AI in agriculture improves crop yields and reduces waste. Energy optimization for smart grids and green buildings. Specific example: AI-powered drones monitor forest health and detect illegal logging.
6. Public Safety and Disaster. AI surveillance systems help in crime prevention and emergency response. Natural disaster prediction (e.g., earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruption). Search and rescue operations enhanced by AI-powered robotics and mapping. Specific example: AI tools helped map affected areas during hurricanes or wildfires to coordinate rescue.
7. Accessibility and Inclusion. Speech-to-text and text-to-speech tools assist those with disabilities. AI-powered apps translate languages and recognize images for the visually impaired. Social inclusion via better access to services and information for the underprivileged. Specific example: Microsoft’s Seeing AI app describes the world to blind users.
8. Scientific Discovery. AI accelerates drug discovery, materials science, and space exploration. It can analyze massive data sets faster than any human team. Specific example: DeepMind’s AlphaFold solved a 50-year-old problem in biology by predicting protein structures.
To summarize, AI benefits mankind through faster, more accurate diagnosis and treatment in healthcare; safer roads and optimized logistics in transportation; personalized learning and automated support in education; increased productivity and new job opportunities in the economy; climate modeling and sustainable agriculture in the environment; early warnings and emergency response tools in public safety; assistive tech for people with disabilities and accelerated discovery in medicine, space, and more
(To be continued.)
Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.
