Months after an AI deepfake of the pontiff in a puffy coat went viral, Pope Francis is warning about the dangers of AI
- One of the biggest AI moments this year involved a deepfake image of the Pope in a big coat.
- Now the Vatican has released a statement where Pope Francis warns against AI's dangers.
Pope Francis was at the center of one of this year's most viral AI controversies, and now he's warned against the dangers of the budding technology.
In a statement shared by the Vatican on Tuesday, Francis called for an open dialogue about AI because it's "endowed with disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects."
That sort of confusion was rife back in March when an AI-generated image of the pontiff wearing an extravagant white coat provoked both compliments and outrage before everyone realized it was a hoax.
Pablo Xavier, a Chicago construction worker who said he generated the image using Midjourney and declined to share his full name, told Buzzfeed he "just thought it was funny to see the Pope in a funny jacket" but was shocked by its popularity and called for greater regulation.
This week's statement from the Holy See was released ahead of 2024's World Peace Day, with the theme being "Artificial Intelligence and Peace."
The Pope spoke about the threat of biases in AI algorithms, calling for assurances 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."
Some ChatGPT moderators living in Kenya were being paid just $2 an hour for work that involved reviewing extreme content, which some say left them traumatized, according to reports from Time and The Guardian.
Instead, the Pope said AI should be "at the service of humanity and the protection of our common home."
Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO, previously told The Wall Street Journal he believes there should be a universal basic income to compensate for AI-related job losses.
"The protection of the dignity of the person, and concern for a fraternity effectively open to the entire human family, are indispensable conditions for technological development to help contribute to the promotion of justice and peace in the world," the Pope added.