• Source:JND
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Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, became the first Pontifex of Vatican City to address the Group of Seven, or G-7, meeting. He delivered a speech on artificial intelligence and its potential impact on human lives and society. This comes as the 50th G-7 summit kicks off in Italy's Apulia. Earlier in the day, the Pope met world leaders including PM Modi.

According to reports, Pope Francis urged world leaders to press for stronger regulations on AI, a demand that has gained global traction after OpenAI's ChatGPT revolutionised the way generative AI works. He asked world leaders to ensure and safeguard human decision-making abilities.

“We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines,” he said. “We need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs: Human dignity itself depends on it.”

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The Pope was invited to the summit by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. A respected authority in the Western world, Pope Francis holds the moral authority required to influence many countries to establish a robust framework for generative AI. Notably, the Pope himself had an unwelcome experience with generative AI last year when a deepfake photo showing him in a white puffer jacket went viral.

In addition to his speech, Pope Francis is expected to have bilateral meetings with invited heads of state to the G-7, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and heads of state from Algeria, Brazil, Kenya, and Turkey. The Pope will also meet with G-7 members, including US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Earlier, Pope Francis met the world leaders with the host, Italian PM Meloni accompanying him. The Pope shared a warm moment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as both were seen hugging during a brief meeting between them.