He clarified it, it is called that remembering Leo XIII, who faced the social issue in the first great industrial revolution. Now his church responds to the developments of artificial intelligence, “which involve new challenges in the defense of human dignity, justice and work,” said the current pontiff.
It is not a new issue in the Holy See. Francisco I focused on his papacy. It is not about stopping that development but also to benefit the greatest number of people.
Already in 2018 it was analyzed in a seminar made by the Social Ecumenical Forum in the Vatican, with the economist Stefano Zamagni (professor at the University of Bologna, advisor to the Popes Juan Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francisco, president of the Academy of Social Sciences of the Vatian), with Cardinal Peter Turksson, managers of companies and academics of Argentina, Chile, Chile, Chile, Mexico, Italy.
In the conclusions presented to Pope Francis, it was pointed out that “we face in this time one of the greatest changes in the history of humanity: globalization in a digital world”, and that “the 4th Industrial Revolution is providing new technologies that can help us in the productive process and that, for now, do not know limits and are implanted with speed without taking into account the eventual loss of jobs.”
Then some participants attended a private audience in which they were able to greet Pope Francis, and Cardinal Pietro Parolin (very cited as “papable”) praised them, pointing out the “effort in the fight against inequalities and ethical behavior within the global economic and financial system.”
Those are two key points to analyze the phenomenon of artificial intelligence. The AI is increasing the inequalities between those who can use it and those that do not have within their reach the benefits of the new industrial revolution. On the other hand, it raises ethical dilemmas in the economy, as to how these advances are used.
It is not about stopping it, which would be impossible, as the other industrial revolutions could not be stopped.
It is true that they offer great opportunities, not only to developed countries but also those who seek to grow. Argentina, for example, is a regional leader in the knowledge economy, has the greatest amount of technological unicorns, with a weight of more 5 % in GDP, with more than 7 % of exports, with which the item is the third exporter of the country.
But how AI in the world can advance when 32% of the world’s population does not have access to the Internet and 45% does not have a smartphone. This was noted by Jorge Lukowski (Neoris) who this week will intervene in a masterclass of the social ecumenical forum, about the orange economy, which is the one that has to do with new technologies, innovation and culture, in the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the UBA.
That is why in the aforementioned seminar, in the Vatican, it was proposed that education be one of the main strategic objectives in a digital world. “Universities are called to be dialogue and meeting laboratories to the service of truth, justice and the defense of human dignity,” they said. There were professors from several universities (Universito Di Roma Tor Vergata, Università Cattolica del Hacro Cuore, Universidad Pontifica de Salamanca, National University of La Plata) and business managers.
But it continues to be a pending subject, that Pope León 14, a person of a great culture and wisdom will promote. It will surely be a worthy continuator of the process that began an intellectual, Ratzinger, and a shepherd, Bergoglio.
*Fernando Flores Maio is a sociologist, journalist, writer, director of the Social Ecumenical Forum
By Fernando Flores Maio
