Catholic Church leader, Pope Francis has issued a warning on artificial intelligence, urging those behind the technology to “be vigilant” during their work.

 

The Pope made the statement in his message marking New Year’s Day, which the Vatican traditionally releases far in advance.

Francis, 86, has joked in the past that he is far from technologically savvy, but said Tuesday that AI must be used in a “responsible way.”

 

“Pope Francis calls for an open dialogue on the meaning of these new technologies, endowed with disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects. He recalls the need to be vigilant and to work so that a logic of violence and discrimination does not take root in the production and use of such devices, at the expense of the most fragile and excluded,” the message on Wednesday, August 9 read.

“The urgent need to orient the concept and use of artificial intelligence in a responsible way, so that it may be at the service of humanity and the protection of our common home, requires that ethical reflection be extended to the sphere of education and law,” the statement added.

 

Francis is not the first person to remark on the potential dangers of AI.

 

Almost 20,000 tech experts signed a letter in May urging caution around the technology and calling for a six-month pause in development.