With the development of increasingly sophisticated skills by the software present in smartphones, computers and robots, meaningful questions arise for humanity: how far can "artificial intelligence" be allowed to become gradually autonomous? What limits should we place on the techniques for detecting our "data"? What ethical values can be installed in the algorithms that regulate exchanges on the network? These topics were recently discussed in the Vatican on two occasions: the first was an audience granted by the Pope to the president of the technology company Microsoft and the second an international conference on the topics of roboethics and health.
by Luigi Crimella
We are ready to enter the digital society in which we will interact with robots and humanoids who speak our language, who work in factories and offices alongside workers and employees or even take our place, who write newspaper articles or who drive cars and buses with no more need for journalists and drivers?
If we take a look at what is already happening around us, for example with the arrival of voice assistants in homes ("Cortana" by Microsoft, "Alexa" by Amazon, "Siri" by Apple and "Google Home") we we will realize that the world of domestic robots and humanoids for offices (Pepper is famous in Italy) is actually occupying increasingly vast areas of private life and the working world.
Regardless of how they are "bodied" on the outside, tin puppets with human features or simple talking cylinders, they are in reality increasingly powerful electronic brains, capable of processing billions of data per minute, of listening to what we say , to elaborate answers to our questions by connecting online, to memorize our tastes and our choices of television channels, websites and music. The undisputed king of these digital controllers is our smartphone, now owned by over 80 percent of those who use a cell phone. With the smartphone we do everything: we chat, call, reply to emails, buy goods and services, invest and subscribe to shares and insurance, measure our well-being and degree of health. In offices and factories, however, we increasingly encounter intelligent PCs that obey voice commands by carrying out complex operations, and also "co-bots" (collaborative robots) that interact with workers and technicians and are able to modify their activities based on of the vocal inputs they receive from human “colleagues”.
Algorithms “control” us
In online commerce, which a growing number of people use, the large sales platforms (Amazon, Alibaba, Ebay, etc.) are based on calculation algorithms that record our every action, from the simple search for an object or a service, up to the purchase and shipping procedure. The "data" that we provide to these platforms is so numerous and detailed (address, tax code, bank account or credit card, working and free time hours, cultural, political, religious, relational tastes, etc.) that if they wanted they could create our "alias", that is, a person who is exactly the same as us, able to act, buy, decide, book, even vote in our place. And all this in a credible and unsuspecting manner due to the precision and apparent reliability of the behavior activated.
A similar argument applies to social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others) in which we share many ideas, feelings, evaluations and preferences, which exponentially increase the data of our personal profile that we deposit on the internet.
When we talk about "Big data" we need to learn to think in mathematically enormous terms: over half of men are connected and surf the web every day, leaving hundreds if not thousands of personal traces that are collected and analysed. Nothing that happens online is "private" and everything can be known, analyzed, intercepted, cloned and even used for fraudulent purposes.
The “big deal” of the cloud
The management of this "Big data" is becoming a real business, especially since the algorithms of the so-called "artificial intelligence" have been developed. Large technology companies have created electronic archives of enormous capacity, called "clouds". The cloud not only acts as a data warehouse, but allows analysis and structuring systems for the purposes of understanding customer flows and orientations. Clear proof of this are the messages we receive from Google or Amazon as soon as we express an interest in something (travel, politics, purchases, etc.).
Last February, Pope Francis received the president of Microsoft, Brad Smith, in audience and had the opportunity to discuss new technologies, big data and artificial intelligence and the use of social media with the delicate implications on privacy, which they entail. The promoter of this meeting was the Pontifical Academy of Life, presided over by Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, who also announced an award in collaboration with Microsoft for the best doctoral research on the topic of artificial intelligence at the service of human life. On that occasion the Pope recalled some of the contents of the message for World Communications Day 2019 in which among other things he states that «the use of the social web is complementary to the meeting in the flesh, which lives through the body , the heart, the eyes, the gaze, the breath of the other. If the network is used as an extension or as a wait for this encounter, then it does not betray itself and remains a resource for communion". According to Pope Francis, new digital technologies constitute a great help for humanity but require a commitment to move from "communities" which are sometimes depersonalizing to a "community" in flesh and blood which is based on direct contact between people.
The danger of out-of-control online interactions
For his part, the president of Microsoft underlined in an interview in L'Osservatore Romano that "we have the responsibility to create online services and communities in which people feel safe: last February 5, Network Security Day, or an international day of action to promote safer and more responsible use of technology, especially among children and young people, we developed a Digital Civility Index to demonstrate that risks online have real-world consequences. We are deeply committed to the need to further educate adolescents, young adults, parents, educators and legislators about the real-world consequences of negative online interactions, which can include loss of trust in others, increased stress, sleep deprivation and even suicidal thoughts. We hope that those results can serve as documentary evidence for a global push towards “digital civilization”.
Similar arguments then emerged on the occasion of the assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life (Pav) dedicated to the themes of "roboethics" in relation to health and human dignity. Also in this case the voice of the Pope, bishops, scientists and philosophers converged in the hope that in the face of progress in science and technology, "the control room of research and development remains human and in the hands of man ” as underlined by the president of the Pav, Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia. For his part, Pope Francis also expressed the hope that in the face of these great advances in digital technologies, the philosophical and theological sciences will also develop reflections capable of offering a moral barrier to the risks of dehumanization that can be glimpsed today.
