This year’s G7 summit is set to kick off tomorrow with leaders from the world’s largest economically strong countries in attendance. This year they will also have a special guest: Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic church. And he will be there to talk about artificial intelligence.
What is the G7 summit?
The G7, or Group of Seven, summit is an annual gathering of the leaders from seven of the world’s largest advanced economies. That includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
At the G7, leaders discuss and coordinate their policies on a wide range of global issues, including: economic policy, climate change, international security and technology.
The G7 was originally formed in the 1970s so that world leaders could discuss economic issues.
When and where is this year’s G7 summit?
This year’s G7 summit is being held at the Borgo Egnazia hotel in the southern Puglia region of Italy.
The summit will run June 13-15.
Why is Pope Francis attending the G7 summit?
Pope Francis is attending the G7 summit at the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who will chair the summit, per the National Catholic Register. It will be the first time a pope has attended the summit, and Pope Francis will attend a session dedicated to discussing artificial intelligence.
In recent years, the Vatican has actively participated in the discourse on artificial intelligence ethics, organizing high-level discussions with scientists and tech executives on the topic in both 2016 and 2020.
And since 2020, the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, which advocates for Catholic moral teachings on bioethics, has been promoting the “Rome Call for AI Ethics,” a document that outlines six principles for AI ethics, including transparency, inclusion, responsibility and impartiality, per CNN.
The Vatican is also seeking support from major tech companies and governments. To date, “Rome Call for AI Ethics” has been signed by Microsoft, IBM and Cisco Systems, as well as the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, Italy’s innovation ministry, and numerous religious leaders.
In his remarks at the G7, Pope Francis is expected to speak about the ethics of AI and call on world leaders to step up in regulating it for the good of people across the world, per NPR.
Brian Green, director of technology ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, was involved in an AI report that the Vatican released in 2023. He believes the pope will take a moral stance in his comments.
“As a religious leader, the only thing he really has is his moral authority, which means that he can’t really come with a big political agenda to something like this. He can’t come with a huge economic agenda, but he can come with a moral agenda,” Green said, per NPR.
Church of Jesus Christ leaders introduce guiding principles for AI
Pope Francis and the Catholic church aren’t the only ones concerned about AI. In March, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held a worldwide training for church employees to introduce them to guiding principles on how to use AI.
Speaking during the training, Elder John C. Pingree Jr., a General Authority Seventy, said, “The moral and ethical considerations that come with the use of AI require spiritual discernment and wisdom,” per Church News.
Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles invited employees to consider how best to use AI while being prayerful. “We can be realistic both of opportunity and challenge,” he said. “Overall, I am optimistic about our ability to use these AI technologies wisely and effectively, and to protect Church members and friends from the deceitful spread of falsehoods or untruth.”
Elder Gong and Elder Pingree then went on to share several principles that help guide the use of AI within the church, per Church News. They included spiritual connection, transparency, privacy and security, and accountability.