The Vatican Takes On AI
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
We can imagine church in a lot of ways. One could be a pyramid with a big boss on the top and he says something and everything happens. That's not the church that I know, especially because I belong to Franciscan. And we are used to say as a joke, we more than an order, we are a disorder. That means that, you know, we have a lot of different processes.
A little Catholic humor for you.
Yeah, it's Catholic. It's for everyone. There is space also for someone like me.
Hi, everyone, from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher. My guest today is Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, and one of the world's leading experts on the ethics of artificial intelligence. Father Benanti has advised the Italian government, the UN, and two popes on technology, and some of his insights are reflected in Pope Leo's encyclical on AI, Magnificent Humanity. In that formal letter to Catholics around the world, Leo called for an artificial intelligence that serves humanity, not one that would take the place of human intelligence and creativity. Benanti has a background in engineering and teaches moral theology as a university professor.
He also has a healthy skepticism of tech oligarchs, as the Pope does, who stand to profit from AI. I'd love to talk to the Pope, obviously, about this topic, but I've known about Benanti for a while, and I know he's had a real impact on on the thinking of the church, which has been bubbling upward since before this pope, with Pope Francis, and the idea of what technology does to society. I think it's critical that the church and other leaders have a role in this. And in fact, it's turned out that the pope has more of an impact on Silicon Valley and their thinking than I thought possible, and I'm glad to see it. I am a lapsed Catholic, but I really do respect what the Pope is doing now, and it almost gets me back into the church.
We'll see. Our expert question today comes from computer scientist and AI ethicist, Yoshua Bengio. So stick around.
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I'm doing a live taping in Washington, D.C. on July 16th at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center. My guest is Gina Raimondo, the 40th Secretary of Commerce and the 75th governor of Rhode Island and someone who has a lot to say about AI and what it's actually doing to the American economy. She may also run for president, so we should listen to what she has to say. It should be a good one. You can be in the room. Head to voxmedia.com, Kara Swisher Live to register. Spots are limited. We always sell out. The link is in the show notes.
If you sit in the sun, you may just get burned. But some people are willing to take that chance.
There is this certain degree of nihilism of like, oh, well, the world is bad anyway.
Why wouldn't I just also get a tan? Tan maxing. That's this week on Explain It To Me. Find new episodes wherever you get your podcasts.
Father Benanti, thanks for coming on on.
Thank you for having me.
Just for people who don't know, you're a Franciscan friar, a moral theologian, and you also advised Pope Leo XIV on AI. I believe you advised the previous pope also, correct, on technology issues.
Yeah, much more Pope Francis. Pope Leo is now shaping the Curia in a way that is desired. So we are in the meantime.
Right, right, right.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–23:25
2
Why is the Catholic Church making AI a central concern now?
23:25–24:30
3
What historical parallels does the Church draw between AI and past technologies?
24:30–31:44
4
How does centralization of data and cloud computing create political risks with AI?
31:44–54:12
Speakers
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