Last week I wrote about Fr Michael Baggott, a professor lecturing AI and ethics in the Vatican, on foot of a BBC appearance. I wasn’t expecting to come across him again so soon.
He gave a very comprehensive interview on The Claire Byrne Show (Newstalk, Tuesday). As before he was articulate, personable and reasonable – an excellent combination. The host introduced the item with: “perhaps surprisingly, the Vatican has emerged as one of the most prominent global voices warning about the potential dangers of AI”. Why “surprisingly”? Fr Baggot said the Church had concerns about “anything that challenges the uniqueness and dignity of the human person”, and anything that affects our relationships with God, each other and the environment. We needed to develop AI in a wise manner. He said the pope made it clear that technical innovation done carefully and wisely can be “a participation in the work of the creator”.
There could be many benefits of AI to help and serve people, e.g. in the area of medical diagnosis. AI can never be a replacement for God though it can seem to emulate some divine attributes. We don’t need AI to have constant communion with God – there’s always prayer. And he didn’t like the idea of “grief bots” – uploading details of the deceased so you could facilitate or more accurately fabricate conversations with them. He feared that “the dead are going to be represented by AI replicas of them”. He was involved with the Magisterium AI project – a initiative.
The intense drama series Kabul (BBC Four, Saturday) came to an end last weekend. The background was the chaotic evacuation of Kabul after the Americans made a deal with the Taliban, allowing them to take over the country again. It was grim and largely depressing as we followed a few parallel stories – an Afghan family trying to escape, the Italian Consul trying to get as many Afghans out who had helped the Italian forces, likewise with the French embassy, while the Germans sent an elite unit into the country to help one of their Afghan collaborators to escape. Everything was confusion, with awful moral dilemmas – who to save, who to leave behind. Everything funnelled towards Kabul airport with its different zones assigned to each of the Western powers. Many of us will remember those panic-stricken days. The Taliban were shown as being ruthless in re-establishing control, but even more extreme were the ISIS fighters, determined to kill as many Taliban and westerners as possible. Obviously, extremely harsh versions of religion featured. But there were also those Afghans who opposed the Taliban – they had a more benign approach to religion. Nothing very overt was made of any Christian principles the westerners might have had, but many were showing love and kindness in action, struggling despite terrible odds to help as many as possible of the Afghans they were responsible for to leave the country.
There was one impressive scene where an anti-Taliban prosecutor was being smuggled out in the boot of a car and was joined in the boot by a Taliban leader escaping for his family’s sake. After an initial tense silence, they argued their opposing views on the nature and future of their country, and even seemed to pray together. When the Afghans spoke together, they used their own language, with subtitles, which was fine, but weirdly, when the French spoke to the French, they spoke in accented English and likewise with the Germans and Italians. The inconsistency made no sense. It was certainly an adult drama – with violence, foul language, and one particularly offensive profanity (from a CIA guy).
The death of Dolly Parton got a peculiarly huge amount of coverage. Her main hits were played over and over – we could have done with more variety. On the Nine O’Clock News (RTÉ One, Tuesday) the importance of her Christian faith was acknowledged – “a true Christian” said newsreader Sharon Ní Bheoláin, and Fr Brian D’Arcy concurred. Announcing her death, her nephew said she was “now in the arms of Jesus”. Her humanitarian work, especially in the area of children’s literacy, got much attention. I have long been impressed by her Trio albums with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, and now, a particularly apt and poignant song is their recording of the hymn Softly and Tenderly (Jesus is Calling) from the Complete Trio Collection.
The refrain is: “Come home, come home/You who are weary, come home”.
Pick of the week
Film: FATHER STU
Film 4, Wednesday (night), September 9, 1.10am
(2022) Writer and director Rosalind Ross’s biographical drama about a hapless boxer-turned-priest whose gloves are off in the fight for the Lord, starring Mark Wahlberg – who also produced – and Mel Gibson.
Beyond Fear: a Catholic Vision for Artificial Intelligence
EWTN, Friday, September 11, 9.30pm
As artificial intelligence reshapes modern life, Church leaders, innovators, and thinkers explore how this technology can serve humanity. Inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s call in Magnifica Humanitas.
Film: The Miracle Club
RTÉ One, Friday, September 11, 9.35pmThere’s just one dream for the women of Ballygar to taste freedom: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes.
