From Rome

After two days of debate at Borgo Laudato Si, founded on the Vatican property of Castel Gandolfo in memory of Pope Francis and his environmental encyclical “Laudato Si”, the nearly 200 participants in this international meeting signed the “Rome Declaration” a document that could point to a path of disarmament, solidarity and proper use of Artificial Intelligence to achieve “an unarmed and disarming peace” as Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly called for.

The meeting, entitled in English Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear War, was attended by 30 Nobel Laureates (including Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Maria Ressa of the Philippines, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and

American David Gross, Nobel Prize winner in Physics 2004), 20 experts in Artificial Intelligence (AI) (including exponents of Big tech, OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic), 30 former heads of government from different countries, leaders of various religions and experts in nuclear weapons, as well as scientists, researchers and professors from different universities such as Harvard University, Oxford University and Columbia University.

The main idea was “to promote a shared vision on peace, ethical innovation and the control of artificial intelligence,” explained the Vatican News agency.

The event was organized by the Domus Communis Foundation (which, among its projects, focuses on giving a human dimension to AI) and was supported by the Nobel Prize Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the Nobel Women's Initiative, the University of Chicago, the Catholic University of America, Harvard Medical School, the University of Notre Dame, among other entities.

The “Rome Declaration for an Unarmed and Disarming Peace in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Nuclear and Autonomous Weapons, New Digital Protocols, and Emerging Models of Digital Development” was signed by all participants, including the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri , who offered the Campidoglio, the city hall building, for the closing ceremony. Also participating was American actress Sharon Stone , described as an “ambassador of Magnifica Humanitas,” the encyclical by Pope Leo XIII that partly inspired the meeting.

Some participants

The Vatican was represented by several officials, including Spanish Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime , pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life. Addressing the experts, the cardinal emphasized that “the problem is not technology itself, but the direction we choose to give it. If we disregard fundamental rights, the risk is creating systems that foster control, manipulation, and new forms of inequality,” he said.

Professor Daniel Holz , from the University of Chicago and founding director of the Existential Risk Lab (X Lab), reminded attendees that “the bad news” is that “we are living in a time of unprecedented danger,” but that “the good news is that there are many things we can do to be safer from nuclear weapons and from AI.”

Professor David Gross , Nobel laureate in Physics and holder of the Chancellor's Chair in Theoretical Physics at the University of California, stated that his assessment of the danger of nuclear weapons is much greater than it was thirty years ago. He also lamented the disappearance of arms control treaties and the fact that nine countries are currently nuclear powers. "We are in the midst of an accelerating arms race."

“The people of the world can no longer ignore how these threats can affect not only their own lives, but also, undoubtedly, those of their children and grandchildren,” he stressed.

Peace ambassador Sharon Stone also spoke, stating that, united by the goal of the common good and respect for every human being, as the capabilities of machines increase, so too must the moral efforts of those who build them. “Human dignity,” she asserted, “is not an algorithm.”

The final document

Some have seen the Rome Declaration as also being inspired by the famous “Russell-Einstein Manifesto” signed in 1955 by scientist Albert Einstein and mathematical philosopher Bertrand Russell: “We want, as human beings, other human beings again: remember your humanity, forget the rest,” they said in that declaration that called for a world free of nuclear weapons, especially after the tragic nuclear bomb attack a few years earlier by the United States against Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) causing 120,000 deaths.

The text of the declaration begins by emphasizing that "Humanity finds itself at a decisive moment in its own history," facing "an unprecedented challenge," which is why it is important to ask what should be done.

One of the proposals is to "deactivate the next arms race, both in the field of Artificial Intelligence and in the nuclear field, before these two things determine the face of the next century."

The declaration invites governments, companies and international organizations to "enable a slower and more coordinated process for the most advanced forms of AI, by instituting shared verification and evaluation mechanisms."

Regarding Artificial Intelligence, the text acknowledges that it can offer many possibilities but also that it is likely “to cause a loss of numerous jobs and intensify economic competition among nuclear powers.” The document calls on the world to develop AI systems “that act in the best interests of humanity” and in “respect for international law and human rights.”

Another key point of the declaration focuses on AI control systems. The text calls for “an international treaty prohibiting the irresponsible integration of AI into command, control, and delivery systems for nuclear weapons, ensuring that it always remains under human control.” But at the same time, it is necessary to “promote the responsible development and use of AI to enhance human well-being, accelerate scientific and medical progress, protect the environment, strengthen societal resilience, and promote peace, sustainable development, and the common good.”

The participants' call is to "create a digital commons" that allows for the collection and sharing of data necessary to deepen knowledge and sustain effective actions regarding nuclear weapons and AI.

The document concludes by urgently calling for the start of negotiations to achieve "the verifiable and irreversible elimination of nuclear weapons," and for this purpose they relaunch the principles already contained in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons that entered into force in 1970 and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was approved by the UN in 2017 and has been applicable since January 22, 2021.

The first Treaty, curiously, allowed the possession of nuclear weapons to only five UN member states, coincidentally the permanent members of the UN Security Council: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.

“Nations possessing nuclear weapons must promote policies and doctrines that progressively reduce the role of such weapons, strengthen strategic stability, and decrease the risk of their use and the unleashing of a war with catastrophic consequences,” the statement concluded. “Our survival and that of future generations is at stake.”

By Elena Llorente , Page 12