In short:
The AI adviser to Pope Leo has praised Australia for taking a considered approach to tech companies.
asserted
adviser → praise → companies
Father Paolo Benanti warned Australia that changes to copyright laws to allow AI training would be risky.
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changes → warn → training
He believes tech companies openly court religious leaders to protect their business interests.
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companies → believe → interests
Australia risks reviving a "new form of colonialism" if it allows AI companies to train on copyrighted work without permission and send profits offshore, warned an influential AI adviser to the Vatican.
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adviser → risk → Vatican
Asked about Australia's consideration of copyright changes to attract AI training, Father Paolo Benanti compared the risk with Europe's history of taking resources from other countries and profiting from them elsewhere.
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Benanti → ask → them
"You go, you take resources, and you monetise it outside the place where the resources [were]," he said.
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he → go → place
He said Australian writing could become another resource used by foreign companies, with the money and tax revenue ending up overseas.
uncertain
money → say → companies
“Is it ... a new form of colonialism from foreign power that could ... exploit from the resources and monetise it outside of the place where they are taken?" he asked.
uncertain
he → exploit → place
Is this something that will produce real richness or pay back to Australia?
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that → produce → Australia
I don't know."
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I → know → ?
Those were questions he said he would ask before voting on such a change.
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he → say → change
Last month, the ABC reported that the Attorney-General's department was quietly consulting on changes that would mean AI companies could train on copyrighted content unless its owner had opted out.
uncertain
owner → report → content
In June Attorney-General Michelle Rowland told 7.30: "This government has repeatedly said that there are no plans to weaken copyright protections when it comes to AI."
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it → tell → AI
Earlier this week, the federal parliament's AI committee took the unusual step of pre-empting its own process to write a letter that urged reforms to pave the way for AI training.
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that → take → training
Father Benanti praised Australia's efforts to regulate social media and AI when he met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week, and told 7.30 other countries should follow Australia's lead in reining in tech companies with policies like the teen social media ban.
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countries → praise → ban
On his visit to Australia as a guest of the Italian Embassy, he described the country as being at the "foremost frontier" and defended it against aspersions about the effectiveness of laws like the social media minimum age.
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he → describe → age
He said that the essential democratic principle was that "no one should be above the law".
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one → say → law
That included overseas social media companies, which he said could rely on protections in their home countries to avoid other governments' rules.
uncertain
he → include → rules
He said Australia's first steps were important, and hoped other countries would follow.
Working together would give governments more power to make technology companies comply with the rules in countries where they wanted to do business, he said.
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he → say → business
'We need a brain helmet'
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We → need → helmet
Father Benanti studied engineering before becoming a Franciscan friar and a professor specialising in the ethics of technology.
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Benanti → study → technology
He advised Pope Francis on artificial intelligence and now advises his successor, Pope Leo.
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He → advise → successor
In May, Pope Leo presented his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, a major papal letter sharing his teachings about humanity in the age of AI.
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Leo → present → AI
The landmark document made global headlines for criticising autonomous weapons, as well as algorithms that could deny people access to healthcare, employment or security.
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that → make → healthcare
Father Benanti said the encyclical resonated beyond the Catholic Church's followers because it addressed moral questions they were already asking about how technology could change their lives.
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technology → say → lives
"Human dignity is the core,"he said.
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dignity → say → ?
He said its appeal came from keeping those questions open for public debate and allowing society to shape how AI is governed.
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AI → say → debate
Father Benanti's concerns about AI extend to the emotional attachments people can form with the technology.
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people → extend → technology
He is concerned that companies exploit loneliness and romantic attachment to their products to make money from people's emotions.
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companies → concern → emotions
"Those are not neutral things, but are things that are designed by someone," he said.
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he → design → someone
The question he said, was whether these products could operate without laws to protect the most vulnerable people.
uncertain
products → say → people
Asked about protecting children, he compared the adoption of AI and smartphones by minors to his experience with riding motorised scooters as a child.
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he → ask → child
When he was old enough he was given a small vehicle rather than a powerful model that could kill him.
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that → give → him
He said smartphones put the same device in the hands of children and adults, without being tailored to children's capabilities.
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smartphones → say → capabilities
"Probably we need a brain helmet," he said.
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he → need → helmet
Business versus faith
Father Benanti believes tech companies have been courting religious leaders to attempt to protect their business interests.
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companies → believe → interests
He's been part of meetings with leaders of top tech companies held at company locations, rather than at the Vatican.
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He → hold → Vatican
Their purpose, he said, "was not because they would like to talk about faith".
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they → say → faith
"There are politicians, there are religious leaders, there are scientists and things like that," he said.
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he → be → that
"They don't want to have leaders against them that can move the people.
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that → want → people
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia