A Roman Catholic theologian who is a Franciscan sister has claimed that “gender-neutral” robotic priests could help make the Church less patriarchal and tackle its sexual abuse crisis. Ilia Delio, who holds a chair in theology at Villanova University, Pennsylvania, said that robots could excel in ways that human priests might not. Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Artificial intelligence’
This robot reads the Bible to old people
Thursday, April 4th, 2019Seniors in search of some high-tech companionship may find comfort in a small robot that can listen to them and read relevant scripture. SanTO is a foot-and-a-half tall robot resembles the sort of altar or figurine a Catholic may use to decorate their home. But it’s equipped with software it uses to listen to people, scan their faces Read more
Microsoft ‘s president meets pope about AI ethics
Thursday, February 14th, 2019Microsoft’s President Brad Smith met Pope Francis on Wednesday to discuss the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI). He also discussed ways to bridge the digital divide between rich and poor nations. Read more
Artificial intelligence a technology in search of a guiding philosophy – Kissinger
Thursday, May 17th, 2018
Henry Kissinger, ‘historian and occasional practising statesman,’ has flagged concerns about the effect digital technology is having on humanity. He says “for all its achievements, it runs the risk of turning on itself as its impositions overwhelm its conveniences. “Beyond factual questions (“What is the temperature outside?”), questions about the nature of reality or the Read more
Robot to conduct funerals – an affordable alternative
Monday, August 28th, 2017In Japan, a plastic moulding company called Nissei Eco is planning to introduce SoftBank’s Pepper robot as a cheaper substitute for human priests reading sutras at Buddhist funerals. Pepper is the first humanoid robot capable of recognising the principal human emotions and adapting his behaviour to the mood of his interlocutor. Continue reading
As artificial intelligence grows, so do perceived threats to human uniqueness
Thursday, August 3rd, 2017
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk got into a spat recently on Twitter with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg over the dangers of artificial intelligence. Musk urged a group of governors to proactively regulate AI, which he views as a “fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.” “Until people see robots going down the street killing people, they Read more
Artificial intelligence – Vatican conference discusses progress, benefits and limits
Tuesday, December 6th, 2016Artificial intelligence was the subject of a conference held at the Vatican last week. One of the attendees described artificial intelligence as being “a very powerful technology”. “So I think as a society we need to think very carefully about the ethical use of technologies, and as one of the developers of this kind of Read more
Artificial intelligence — possible, but delayed
Tuesday, October 16th, 2012
It is uncontroversial that the human brain has capabilities that are, in some respects, far superior to those of all other known objects in the cosmos. It is the only kind of object capable of understanding that the cosmos is even there, or why there are infinitely many prime numbers, or that apples fall because Read more