Vatican gathers world’s big thinkers ahead of first-ever pop concert

Rome CNN The Vatican has brought together an eclectic mix of thinkers and music artists as it seeks to influence both the expansion of artificial intelligence and the future of humanity A summit held Friday and Saturday on human fraternity convened Nobel prize winners to discuss everything from agriculture to the business activity to sport before culminating with an historic concert in St Peter s Square directed by American singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams and celebrated Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli Among those taking part in the AI discussions was Will i am front man for the Black Eyed Peas who has been involved with AI since after attending classes by the late Patrick Winston a computer scientist from Massachusetts Institute of System MIT The rapper and singer who heads a device company called FYI AI and supports computer science coaching in Los Angeles believes the church and Pope Leo XIV have a role to play in progressing AI that serves humanity He communicated CNN that the Vatican event offered a safe haven for brainstorming on AI It demands that people center themselves around what s good for humanity he mentioned and that they build systems that are for population and the improvement of society That s the thesis of why they come to the Vatican He added I think governments need to get up to speed and put selected regulations and governance in place not to stifle advance but just to ensure that society is safe For several years the Vatican been pushing for a more ethical AI through meetings with leaders of tech companies and Pope Francis called in for a binding international treaty to prevent harmful practices and encourage the best ones The latest discussions which took place in Rome s Palazzo Altieri covered similar themes with speakers including Geoffrey Hinton known as the Godfather of AI physicist and author Max Tegmark of MIT Jimena Sof a Viveros lvarez a scholar and leading voice for ethical AI and Marco Trombetti founder and chief executive of Translated which utilizes AI for translation services Trombetti who uses a mix of AI and human translators communicated CNN that the improvement of AI risks creating a digital divide between countries which do and do not have access to the hardware He described the Vatican s role in discussions as key because Pope Leo is a magnet for talent who has an incredible power for spreading ideas The latest summit was in the works before Pope Francis died in April triggering the process to elect his successor Organizers then scrambled to prepare the event which included a round table on the news media in which Mark Thompson the chief executive and chairman of CNN took part as did Maria Ressa a Nobel Peace Prize winner and chief executive of the Rappler news site On Saturday a human constitutional assembly was presided over by Gra a Machel widow of South Africa s late President Nelson Mandela and attended by several Nobel laureates While Italian-centric and dominated by speeches the event underlined the Vatican and the papacy s convening power Ressa who was awarded the Nobel for efforts to safeguard freedom of expression in the Philippines communicated CNN that if you don t talk about humanity at the Vatican I don t know what else you would talk about For her part Machel mentioned the event exhibited that leaders have the limit to re-design the world to protect life and ensure people have work food and shelter Pope Leo addressed the participants Friday in the Vatican s apostolic palace where he urged them to identify local and international methods of evolving new forms of social charity and to see the image of God in the face of the poor the refugee and even the adversary Later that evening he sent a message thanking people on the Italian island of Lampedusa a frequent entry point for newcomers from north Africa for welcoming new arrivals and hinting that he could make a visit Back in Pope Francis made his first visit outside of Rome to Lampedusa Speaking about Leo s poll as the first American pope Will i am announced it was a beautiful thing given all the things that are happening in America On Friday an undocumented migrant in a suburb of Chicago was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE officer after resisting arrest I wish we treated Chicago and inner cities better going through tough times with a human delicate approach Will i am explained The fact that we have a pope from Chicago gives me hope The concert in St Peter s Square on Saturday evening open to everyone is the first of its kind to be held in the Vatican The line-up includes John Legend Teddy Swims Karol G and features an unlikely return to performing by hip-hop duo Clipse which includes brothers Gene and Terrence Thornton No Malice and Pusha T Will i am who is not performing stated he hoped that the crowd might sing one of the Black Eyed Peas best known songs Where Is The Love because the world requirements it Meanwhile as the summit was taking place Pope Leo received the diplomatic credentials of the new US Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch Burch who is from Chicago was the co-founder of Catholic Vote a political organization that backed President Donald Trump in the voting While presenting his credentials he gave Leo a cake to mark the pope s th birthday this Sunday According to the US Embassy to Holy See X account during their meeting pope underscored that our political differences can never be resolved with violence and stated Ambassador Burch that he was praying for the widow of Mr Kirk and his children