Pope warns against undermining human ‘dignity’ in AI, social media era
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Pope Leo XIV greets faithful at the end of a mass in St. Peter's Basilica on the occasion of the Youth Jubilee at the Vatican City, on July 29.
PHOTO: EPA
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VATICAN CITY - Pope Leo XVI on July 29 called on the world to protect human “dignity” online as it faces the “challenge” of AI, at the Vatican’s first mass for Catholic influencers.
He was speaking as thousands of young Catholics are in Rome this week for the Vatican’s Jubilee of Youth – an event that takes place every 25 years – and as the Catholic Church tries to promote its message online amid a fall in church attendance.
“Nothing that comes from Man and his creativity should be used to undermine the dignity of others,” Pope Leo told young Catholic social media figures at a mass in St Peter’s Basilica.
He called on the world to protect “our ability to listen and speak” in the “new era” of artificial intelligence.
The Vatican is holding a two-day event bringing together what it calls “digital missionaries and Catholic influencers” from around the world in a bid to promote its presence online.
It is the first time the centuries-old institution holds such an event.
He also called on Catholic social media influencers to convince others to create content that will “entail seeking out those who suffer and need to know the Lord”.
Since taking over the papacy in May, the Pope – an American mathematics graduate – has repeatedly warned about the dangers of AI for young people. AFP
