Keyun Ruan, chief information security officer at Alphabet, Google’s parent company, posed the question, « Why do we need AGI? » in reference to artificial general intelligence — AI systems that can match or exceed human intelligence across a wide range of situations.
Speaking at a conference on human flourishing and technology in the headquarters of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences May 23, Ruan said that determining AGI’s purpose and service to humanity is « a broader conversation that we have never really had at a global level. »
Scholars, tech experts, and business leaders gathered at the Vatican for a two-day conference to have that conversation about integrating emerging technologies and advancing the good of humanity.
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, defines AGI as « highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work, » and developing it has become a central goal of the company, as it has for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, Google and others.
« It’s almost like some people think that this is the right objective because we need it in the short term, so we should pursue it, » Ruan said. « But whether we should (make) something that is more intelligent than us when society is not ready is another kind of question. »
The development of AGI requires huge monetary investments, « and there is not an equal size of investments and funding in alignment, in ethics, in human flourishing, » she noted. « We want to get the equation balanced before we race into AGI. »
As the development of artificially intelligent technology marches forward, « the framework to evaluate whether or not AI is being used correctly is that of human flourishing, » said Fr. Larrey, a professor of philosophy at Boston College and chairman of Humanity 2.0, a nonprofit working to integrate technology and human flourishing.
Larrey cited a Goldman Sachs report which estimates that in the long-term artificial intelligence could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs. Just because humanity can produce these tools at a rapid pace doesn’t mean they should without finding an adequate solution for humanity to adapt to them, he said, yet « the tendency is to grant AI more and more autonomy because they are good at the jobs we want them to complete. »
Dennis Snower, an economist and president of the Global Solutions Initiative, told Catholic News Service that today « artificial intelligence is driven largely by business interests with a focus on profits and shareholder value, and these don’t align properly with our needs to flourish both individually and socially. »
Tech developers as well as business and government leaders need to « realign our profit motive with our social and environmental needs, » he said, and faith « is a vital instrument that will enable us to achieve this wider perspective. »
« Now that we’re generating all these global problems, we need, among other things, to see ourselves as part of a common humanity when addressing these problems, and the great faiths are an important steppingstone in that direction, » Snower said.
Ketan Patel, CEO of Greater Pacific Capital and chair of the Force for Good Initiative, told CNS that there is currently a shift in investment toward human flourishing and that faith leaders must be involved in guiding that movement since they « have a perspective beyond the motives of commerce. »
James Pawelski, director of education in the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center, told the conference that advancing human flourishing requires « connecting culture with physical and mental health, » as well as identifying culture’s role in fostering social connection and cultivating spirituality.
Elisabeth Kincaid, director of the Center for Ethics and Economic Justice at Loyola University New Orleans, said that « art, culture (and) relationships can take us beyond ourselves, » but that « artificial intelligence can never capture something beyond us. »
The Catholic tradition is filled with hope, she said, but is also tinged with a sense of « bitterness, » or a feeling that human life does not conform to what it is meant to be, which is why « human flourishing in relationship to AI, which can promise us a utopia, needs to always be aware of both the beauty and the pain that we all experience. »
Whether AI systems can be imbued with the wealth of human experience remains to be seen, the experts said, but a larger question is whether the technology will keep humanity’s best interest at heart when its intelligence surpasses that of the people who created it.
« The potential for good, the potential for addressing humanity’s greatest issues is unparalleled, unprecedented and profound, » said Janet Adams, chief operating officer at SingularityNET, a decentralized marketplace for AI algorithms. « The question is, who’s going to develop that AGI and with what values? »
