Top Line
Pope Francis is scheduled to attend the G-7 summit on Friday and is expected to urge world leaders to adopt AI regulations, a topic the pope has spoken about several times before, including when he was the subject of a viral rash of AI-generated images that many believed were real.
Pope Francis giving the Angelus blessing from the window of his private studio.
Getty Images
Important Facts
The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will attend the G7 summit in Italy on Friday, where he will discuss ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence during a session dedicated to artificial intelligence, becoming the first pope to attend the leaders’ summit.
Popes have been victims of AI in the past: AI-generated deepfake images of the pope in a white puffer jacket and bedazzled crucifix — dubbed the “Balenciaga Pope” — went viral last year and were viewed millions of times online, leading some people to believe the photos were real.
He spoke about fake images during a speech in Vatican City in January, and warned about “the rise of images that seem completely credible, but are false (I have been a victim of this too).”
Pope Francis has previously spoken about the threat of AI, and is expected to urge world leaders at the G7 summit to work together to create AI regulations.
According to Politico, during the G7 meetings, Italy is expected to advocate for the development of indigenous AI systems in African countries, further work is expected to be done on the Hiroshima Process — a G7 effort to safeguard the use of generative AI — and leaders from countries like the US and UK are expected to promote AI regulations introduced in their own countries.
Italian Prime Minister Giordano Meloni said in a statement in April that the pope was invited to the G7 summit to “make a decisive contribution to defining the regulatory, ethical and cultural framework for artificial intelligence.”
The Vatican also announced that Pope Francis will hold bilateral talks with leaders of other countries, including President Joe Biden, Kenyan President Samoe Ruto and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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Main Background
The Pope has been speaking about the need for artificial intelligence regulation for several years. The Vatican has been promoting the “Rome Call for AI Ethics” since 2020, which sets out six principles for AI ethics, including transparency, inclusiveness, fairness, responsibility, reliability, and security and privacy. As part of the Catholic Church’s August 2023 proclamation for this year’s World Day of Peace – which was held on January 1 – the Pope warned about the dangers of AI, saying it should be used as a “service to humanity”. He called for “an open dialogue on the meaning of these new technologies endowed with disruptive possibilities and ambiguous effects”. In December 2023, the Pope called for an international treaty to regulate AI as part of his World Peace Day message. He urged world leaders to “adopt a binding international treaty” to regulate AI development, saying it should not just focus on preventing harm but also encourage “best practices”. The pope said that while advances in technology and science lead to the betterment of humanity, they can also give humans “unprecedented control over reality.”
tangent line
Italy – one of the rotating hosts of the G7 summit – became the first country to temporarily ban the AI chatbot ChatGPT in March 2023 after Italian data protection regulator Garante claimed the chatbot violated EU privacy laws. Garante claimed ChatGPT exposed payment information and messages, and allowed children to access inappropriate information. Other countries that have passed or introduced laws regulating AI include Australia, China, the EU, the US, Japan, and the UK
Further reading
Pope warns artificial intelligence could ‘promote conflict and opposition’ (Forbes)
Pope Francis calls for global treaty to regulate AI — after viral deepfake of him wearing a puffer jacket (Forbes)
Katy Perry and Rihanna’s AI-generated Met Gala photos go viral: How to spot a deepfake (Forbes)
Fake photos of Pope Francis in a puffer jacket go viral, highlighting the power and danger of AI (CBS News)
