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Magnifica Humanitas – Disarming Artificial Intelligence

A couple of days before Magnifica Humanitas was published by Pope Leo XIV, the Australian musician and comedian Tim Minchin was interviewed on the radio about artificial intelligence (AI) at the Hay Festival. He spoke with great clarity about how the problem with AI is the lack of any proper idea of intention, and he called for people to be ‘belligerent’ in their reactions to it. At the press conference which launched the encyclical, the Holy Father stressed his call in the text to ‘disarm AI’; while much of what Minchin said chimes with the pope’s insights, the different use of military language is striking.

The Catholic Church and rearmament

On Thursday 14 May, Ascension Day in some countries, Pope Leo XIV visited one of the largest universities in Europe, La Sapienza in Rome. In a wide-ranging address [1] which drew on the restlessness of St Augustine as a young man, at one point the Holy Father said:

Globalisation and the common good

On the website www.catholicsocialteaching.org.uk, there is a set of videos that introduce Catholic social thought and teaching. We continue featuring those videos on the blog with the video on “Globalisation and the common good”. This explores the Church’s nuanced view of globalisation. It is also available with Portuguese subtitles.

Catholic Social Thought videos

On the website www.catholicsocialthought.org.uk, there is a set of videos that introduce Catholic social thought and teaching. These will be featured on the blog over the coming weeks. These are also available in Portuguese .

AI at the Service of Humanity and the Church

Introduction

This article does not address the risks or dangers of artificial intelligence – that subject is covered in multiple places. Nor will it go into the questions that fascinate me as a philosopher: the nature of intelligence, consciousness, self‑awareness, etc. Instead, it will address an important practical topic. I will reflect on how AI can serve humanity and the Church.

Professor Richard Turnbull – a short tribute

Richard was the founding director of the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics. He was a visiting professor in the Business School at St. Mary’s University. He made a number of contributions to the life of St. Mary’s, including organising high profile events involving academics, business leaders and policy thinkers. He also guest lectured on the MA in Catholic Social Teaching.

The family – the basic building block of society (part two)

In the first part I wrote about the situation of families that do have children. However, have you thought recently about how old the population looks when you go out onto the street? This is not just because people are living longer. Where are the prams, pushchairs and babies? Pope Francis has talked about how we are moving towards a “demographic winter”.

Unpicking stereotypes about diversity

The modern mantra of “equality, diversity and inclusion” (EDI) is proclaimed with alacrity in the corporate and education worlds. This is an important agenda, if understood correctly, but the phrase is often used to close down rather than open up discussions.

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