A senior Vatican figure has said there needs to be global cooperation on artificial intelligence and expressed concern that some states want to “go it alone” with the technology.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See Secretary of State, was speaking on September 16 after an event in the Italian parliament called ‘Faith and Reason in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.’
Parolin praised the recent call from Italian President Sergio Mattarella for states and supranational bodies to be responsible in regards to new technologies. He said “this global phenomenon” requires “everyone’s participation.”
“My concern is that there are countries which, in fact, want to go it alone,” he said, when what is needed is “everyone’s involvement in establishing some common rules that can genuinely govern this phenomenon.”
In regards to recent calls from within the technological world for more regulation of AI, Parolin said “we hope that it is ethical reasoning that drives this kind of consideration.”
However, Parolin sounded a more cautious note when asked whether he would use his participation in the United Nations General Assembly as an opportunity to advocate for an international body overseeing the technology.
“Probably we are not going to look for immediate technical solutions at this stage. The Holy See normally sets out and puts forward principles,” he said.
