Pope Francis has warned Silicon Valley executives that artificial intelligence and other new technologies could lead to "an unfortunate regression to a form of barbarism" that threatens "all areas of human activity."
"The remarkable developments in the field of technology, in particular those dealing with artificial intelligence, raise increasingly significant implications in all areas of human activity," Pope Francis said last week at a conference featuring technology executives, theologians and academics at the Vatican.
"For this reason, open and concrete discussions on this theme are needed now more than ever," the Pope said, according to Reuters.
In warning of the moral problems that could result from such new technologies, Pope Francis said: "If mankind's so-called technological progress were to become an enemy of the common good, this would lead to an unfortunate regression to a form of barbarism dictated by the law of the strongest."
The conference, held Thursday to Saturday, was entitled "The Common Good in the Digital Age," according to the report.
Among those serving as panelists included Mozilla cofounder and executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker and Gavin Corn, director of Facebook's cyber security law team, Reuters reports.
Vatican officials, according to the report, suggested that the conference could be used for a future papal document on artificial intelligence.
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