World Communications Day: Artificial Intelligence and the Wisdom of the Heart

Artificial Intelligence (AI), described in simple terms as “technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities,” has come to be part of our lives in the digital era. The various applications for Artificial Intelligence are increasing daily and they are gifts to our generation that must be harnessed wisely.

Pope Francis shares in our perplexity

In a world filled with God’s bounty and the constant progress of human inventions, not excluding the reality of the growing disparity between the digital haves and have-nots, artificial intelligence comes as an invaluable tool to enhance our lives and without doubt, perhaps, to also create more inequalities too. As many of us are still grappling with trying to understand what Artificial Intelligence is and what it fully offers, Pope Francis shares in our perplexity, as he exhorts us, “The rapid spread of astonishing innovations, whose workings and potential are beyond the ability of most of us to understand and appreciate, has proven both exciting and disorienting.”

The creative use of Artificial intelligence in various fields such as science and medicine, have shown that it can perform tasks, on its own or combined with other technologies like robotics, sensors and geolocation, that would otherwise require human intelligence. The generative AI tools, digital assistants and GPS guidance that we now use daily are some of the amazing innovations of Artificial Intelligence. Yet as Pope Francis says, it is “at this time in history, which risks becoming rich in technology and poor in humanity,” that “our reflections must begin with the human heart.”

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Our Use of AI Needs Wisdom

Why do we need the wisdom of the heart to guide our use of artificial intelligence or machine learning? Pope Francis reminds us that the, “Wisdom of the heart is the virtue that enables us to integrate the whole and its parts, our decisions and their consequences, our nobility and our vulnerability, our past and our future, our individuality and our membership within a larger community. It is a fact that machines are made to “possess a limitlessly greater capacity than human beings for storing and correlating data, but human beings alone are capable of making sense of that data,” the Pope says. Therefore, God’s light and wisdom to humans in making more fruitful and life-giving use, than harm, of technology is always necessary.

Media Use of AI

In relation to media, the use of artificial intelligence can greatly make a positive contribution to the work of media professionals, communicators, and users. This can be achieved by upholding the “values the professionalism of communication, making every communicator more aware of his or her responsibilities, and enabling all people to be, as they should, discerning participants in the work of communication.”

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As we celebrate the World Communications Day this year, we remember and accompany with our prayers all who work with the media, especially those working in difficult places and those who have lost their lives while on duty due to wars, insecurity and natural disasters. May their efforts and sacrifices yield fruits of hope and peace.