Together they formed a new organization called the Institute for Technology, Ethics and Culture (ITEC). ITEC’s first project was a manual. “Ethics in the Age of Breakthrough Technologies: An Operational Roadmap”It is designed to unify the tech industry under the common rules and values ​​of artificial intelligence, machine learning, encryption, monitoring and more.

Everyone asked – they did

St. in Los Altos Brendan McGuire, a priest and ITEC consultant at Simon Parish, says technology executives from all over Silicon Valley have been coming to him for years and saying: “You have to help us, there are many new things on the horizon and we are not ready”. Of course, it is not known who these executives are and which companies they represent. McGuire says the idea is to use the Vatican’s “organizational skills” to bring together leaders from around the world, because the Vatican “has a unique ability to bring key players to the negotiating table.”

In general, everything looks pretty good. While scientists, developers, observers, and conservationists often focus their efforts on appealing to regulatory agencies, the ITEC guideline takes a different approach. Rather than waiting for governments to set rules for the industry, ITEC now hopes to provide tech companies with the kind of guidance they need to tackle the complex challenges of AI.

The book talks about setting a certain set of rules and values ​​in technology from the very beginning and not solving problems later. Everything is centered around one central idea: all our actions should be aimed at the common good of humanity and the environment. This principle is very vague and is therefore broken down into a cascading series of concrete recommendations and practical steps.

For example, the principle of “respect for human dignity and human rights” includes the emphasis on “inviolability and privacy of private life”. To put this idea into practice, the book requires a commitment to “not collect more data than is necessary” and says that “data collected should be stored in a way that optimizes privacy and confidentiality preservation.” It states that companies should consider certain measures to protect health and financial data and focus on responsibilities towards users, not just legal requirements.

Let alone the app, it’s unclear whether anyone will want to read these guidelines. Of course, national governments will gradually improve their laws and regulations regarding artificial intelligence, but the Vatican hopes this book will play an important role in speeding up these processes.