Pope Francis at G7: AI must not replace human decision-making

June 14, 2024 | CNA Rome Newsroom,

Pope Francis stressed that human dignity requires that the decisions of artificial intelligence (AI) be under the control of human beings as he participated for the first time in a G7 summit on Friday.

“Faced with the marvels of machines, which seem to know how to choose independently, we should be very clear that decision-making, even when we are confronted with its sometimes dramatic and urgent aspects, must always be left to the human person,” he said in front of world leaders June 14.

“We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines,” the pope added. “We need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs: human dignity itself depends on it.”

The Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations summit is being held June 13–15 in the southern Italian region of Puglia.

Pope Francis participated in the June 14 “outreach” session, which also included invited nations and international organizations and was on the topics of artificial intelligence, energy, and the Africa and Mediterranean regions.

The pope held bilateral meetings with several notable leaders before the session, including Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. After the session he will hold a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and others.

Calling AI “an exciting and fearsome tool,” the pontiff said artificial intelligence must be used for good and for building a better tomorrow, and aimed at the good of people.

“It is up to everyone to make good use of [AI technology], but the onus is on politics to create the conditions for such good use to be possible and fruitful,” he underlined.