Putting AI in the service of the common good

Adapted from comments made at Vatican City on January 10, 2023, at a meeting regarding the multi-religious signature of the Rome Call for AI Ethics

I first want to say thank you to everyone here. I join my colleagues from Microsoft in being honored to be part of this gathering.

I have learned many things already today. One is a new rule for public speaking. No one should ever want to be the first person to speak after Pope Francis. It gives new meaning to the term “anticlimactic.”

?There are many things that have brought us together today, but of course, the central theme of the day is artificial intelligence and what it means for the future of humanity.

?I would first note that as historians look back at 2023, I believe this year may go down as an inflection point for technology, as the pace of its development accelerates.

?I had just started my career at Microsoft in 1995, when the internet browser captured the imagination of the world, changing the course of history. A little more than a decade later, in 2007, the iPhone was brought to market, not only upending the smartphone but generating a tectonic shift in modern society. In much the same way, I believe 2023 will be the year that artificial intelligence and will bring a similar transformation to our personal and professional lives.?

That’s why I am so pleased to join several of my Microsoft colleagues, religious leaders from around the world, including my good friend H.E. Archbishop Paglia, and other organizations to support the Rome Call for AI Ethics . It is an important global effort to promote an ethical approach to artificial intelligence. Microsoft has been involved in this effort since 2020, being one of the first four signatories of the global movement.

Today, the Vatican has expanded the Call to the Jewish and Muslim faiths, establishing a common perspective for the 3.5 billion followers of three great religions founded on a common appreciation of the importance of the advancement of knowledge, as well as an appreciation that knowledge must serve, not harm, humanity.

At Microsoft, we have long recognized that AI is a tool created by humanity for humanity. As AI becomes even more integral to the world in 2023, it is even more important to engage with people with diverse perspectives in a range of fora to help drive AI innovations that positively impact society. Father Paolo Benanti, a leader of the Vatican’s AI initiative, says it clearly: “We?must create a language that can translate moral values into something computable for the machine. However, in the man-machine relationship, the true expert and bearer of values is man.”?

Every day, I benefit from seeing the good AI can do for the world. Last summer I saw this firsthand in India when I spent time with a nonprofit that we’re working with – the Sustainable Environmental and Ecological Development Society, or SEEDS. Every year, 10 million people in India are forced from their homes because of storms or excessive heat. Equipped with satellite imagery, SEEDS uses AI to assess the vulnerability of homes by identifying the composition of roofs. Roofs made of thatch typically have walls made of mud and are especially susceptible to floods. If the roof is made of concrete, then the walls are most likely made of cement, making the home susceptible to excessive heat.

Armed with this data and the power of AI, SEEDS works with volunteers to warn homeowners of coming dangers and share simple steps like covering their roof with a burlap bag to lower the temperature during a heatwave.

This is just one of the many promises that this technology will bring.

But as Father Benanti noted, the history of technology teaches us that we can’t count simply on following a yellow brick road to a bright future. Any tool can become a weapon. A broom can be used to sweep a floor or hit someone over the head. This is the challenge we are presented with today. How do we ensure that this new technology serves humanity and is created and governed by humanity?

The Rome Call for AI Ethics is of fundamental importance to the world because it stands for several important principles. First, it calls for ethical safeguards to govern the use of AI, to ensure that it’s transparent, that it’s inclusive, that it’s controlled and governed with human interests in mind.

Second, it calls for those of us developing and using AI to do so with a broad perspective on its societal impact, to think about what it will do for people and their jobs, and to ensure that it serves everyone.

And third, the Rome Call is unique in that it focuses not only on the service of people, but the sustainability of the planet we all call home.

The Rome Call needs to be a broad tent. That’s why today’s signing is such an important milestone. Technology is too important to be left to the technologists alone. It’s too important to be left to tech companies alone. But its governance is also too important to move forward without the active participation of technology leaders. We must bring the whole of society together to create a common understanding of what we need to do.

Of course, at the end of the day, we need to make the Rome Call real. That will require not just the world’s great religions and technology companies. It requires the people who make laws and who regulate technology. It requires implementation by everyone who uses technology around the world.

As His Holiness Pope Francis said this morning, we are here today to “create a culture that places AI in the service of the common good of all, and of the care of our common home.”

That is our North Star to guide our continuing journey.?