@timnitGebru I wasn't a part of the planning process for this event but am connected to the Vatican and work on AI, would love to talk more about this. I think having Anthropic there was not ideal, and share your feelings on that (as did others in the Vatican), but I think you might agree with a lot of what's in the document.

@timnitGebru Their engagement with Silicon Valley is not a venture capital firm.

Someone with your academic standing should at least read the Encyclica instead of indulging in guilt by association fallacies.

One might dismiss the belief set of the Ecclesia Catholica per se, but this Pontifex Maximus is well educated and intelligent. And dwelled and executed the duties of a member of the Jesuit order in Latin America.

@timnitGebru Shame, they seemed like such good folks otherwise.

@timnitGebru We need Christopher Hitchens, but he died of the Big C ages ago. His takedowns of religion and Catholicism in particular were epic. I was reading his work this AM even before learning of the Vatican idiocy you posted to the nasty networking site to skill up on polemic after witnessing EA using false dichotomy and victim blaming repeatedly over the weekend.

@timnitGebru

The document itself reads great.

But so does a lot of scripture.

It's the actions that matter and bringing in Anthropic says much more than the words.

Read these excerpts below and remember to ask: "okay, now prove it."

Over the centuries, technological development has significantly improved the living conditions of humanity. At the same time, each phase of progress has also revealed the ambiguity of tools that can cause harm when not oriented toward the good.

In the past, it was largely up to the State to guide and direct innovation. Today, however, the main drivers of development are private, often transnational, parties that are endowed with resources and the capacity to intervene that surpass those of many Governments.

If we focus only on contingencies, we risk letting the succession of emergencies dictate the direction of our path.

Scientific discoveries are talents entrusted to humanity so that they may bear fruit (cf. Mt 25:14-30). Technology has the power to heal, connect, educate and protect our common home; but it can also divide, exclude and generate new forms of injustice.

Rebuilding today means recognizing that, precisely from the plurality of voices and visions which, even though they sometimes remind us of the confusion caused by the diversity of spoken languages, a bright possibility emerges. Indeed, this is the possibility of building together, of transforming diversity into a resource and of making listening and dialogue the common ground upon which to cultivate justice and fraternity.

All too often, we place our hope in unlimited “upgrades,” in forms of progress that exacerbate inequalities, and in immediate solutions incapable of healing people’s wounds. As a result, while some pursue the illusion of unlimited self-assertion, many are deprived of basic necessities.

We should not be intimidated by tensions or differences because they can become creative forces when guided by shared responsibility.

We cannot condone naïve enthusiasms, nor fuel unfounded fears. Instead, let us establish standards for discernment — the dignity of the human person, the universal destination of goods, the preferential option for the poor, care for our common home and peace — and let us translate these standards into practices such as responsible planning, the assessment of human and social impact, the inclusion of the most vulnerable, the promotion of digital literacy and guiding research and industry toward justice and peace.

@timnitGebru I see what you mean that it is a risk that there is a consultant from Anthropic at the Vatican when the manifesto calling for massive fierce regulation of "AI" is being read out by the pope. But it may be that a touch of dialogue makes more sense than ideological 'purity'; it is a pretty strong statement, not the sort of thing Antrhopic itself is really standing behind. It is important for religious leaders not to be seen as fanatical :-)

@timnitGebru

As I posted in reply to another thread on the "Magnifica humanitas", I continue to question how any self-described progressives can stay with an institution as oppressive as the Catholic Church.

https://funcrunch.medium.com/progressive-catholics-please-explain-yourselves-1ec9adc4fc67?sk=cdaa9645e434596425093f277467546d

@timnitGebru @nancylwayne George Harrison: “While the Pope owns fifty-one-percent of General Motors, and the stock exchange is the only thing he’s qualified to quote us.” - Awaiting on you All, 1970

Now if the Vatican had partnered with the exploited data workers fighting for their rights, the people whose water is polluted fighting data centers, or the many other victims around the world, I would have written whatever they wrote.

If the Vatican told Anthropic to stop stealing data, exploiting labor, killing the environment, deceiving us with anthropomorphic designs and lying about product "capabilities, " then sure I would have read whatever they wrote.