Microsoft President to Unveil ‘Enhanced Artificial Intelligence’ for St. Peter’s Basilica

Vatican, November 8, 2024 / 06:00

Microsoft President Brad Smith is set to unveil an artificial intelligence project dedicated to St. Peter’s Basilica during a press conference at the Vatican on November 11.

This initiative, called “St. Peter’s Basilica: An Experience Enhanced by Artificial Intelligence,” is a collaboration between Microsoft and Saint Peter’s Clothorganization responsible for the preservation and maintenance of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Since Smith launched As part of Microsoft’s AI for Cultural Heritage program in 2019, the technology company worked on a number of projects that provided digital ways to explore art, architecture and historical sites using artificial intelligence.

Microsoft developed Ancient Olympia Project in Greece, which used artificial intelligence to digitally reconstruct the birthplace of the Olympic Games, offering an immersive exploration of the ruins.

Similarly, Microsoft partnered with Iconem to create digital models of Mont Saint Michel in France, using artificial intelligence and 3D modeling to capture intricate details 1000 year old Place of Catholic pilgrimage.

Other companies have also provided virtual reality experiences of historically significant churches in recent years, including an immersive 3D exhibition of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher called “Tomb of Christ” at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently spoke in Rome on October 23 after the company announced a €4.3 billion (about $4.64 billion) investment in Italy over the next two years to expand its hyperscale cloud data center and artificial intelligence infrastructure, which will enable the Italy cloud region to be one of Microsoft’s largest data center regions in Europe and a strategic hub for the diffusion of artificial intelligence innovation in the Mediterranean.

Microsoft also announced a collaboration with the City of Rome to develop “Giulia,” an artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant that will help the more than 35 million visitors expected in the Italian capital in the upcoming 2025 anniversary year.

Jubilee pilgrims will be able to ask Julia, the city’s virtual guide, questions via WhatsApp about cultural heritage sites, as well as suggestions for accommodation and restaurants where they can taste typical Roman and Italian cuisine.

The Vatican and the ethics of artificial intelligence

The St. Peter’s Basilica project wouldn’t be the first time the Vatican has collaborated with Microsoft on artificial intelligence.

Years before the widely popular release of the GPT-4 chatbot system developed by San Francisco startup OpenAI, the Vatican had already been actively involved in the discussion on the ethics of artificial intelligence, holding numerous high-level discussions with scientists and technical leaders on ethics. artificial intelligence since 2016.

In February 2020, Smith took part in a Vatican event entitled “Renaissance: For a Humanistic Artificial Intelligence”, where he signed the Vatican’s ethical pledge on artificial intelligence – Rome’s call to AI ethicsalong with IBM Executive Vice President John Kelly III.

Since then, the Pope has hosted other technology leaders, including C.E.O. Cisco Systems Chuck Robbins, who also signed the Vatican’s commitment to the ethics of artificial intelligence, in April in Rome.

The Roman Call, a document of the Pontifical Academy for Life, emphasizes the need for the ethical use of AI in accordance with the principles of transparency, inclusiveness, accountability, impartiality, reliability, security and privacy.

Pope Francis chose artificial intelligence as the theme of his visit. Message of Peace 2024which recommended that world leaders adopt an international treaty governing the development and use of AI. Francis became first pope to speak at the G7 summit in June when he was invited to speak to world leaders about the ethics of AI.

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In July, Father Paolo Benanti, a member of the UN advisory body on AI and adviser to Pope Francis on ethics and technology, visited Microsoft headquarters in Washington to talk to Smith.

IN interview Speaking to GeekWire after the 2023 Vatican AI conference, Smith reflected on how having religious leaders in the room at a tech conference “adds an extraordinary edge to the conversation.”

“You might ask whether religious leaders were at a technology meeting or technology leaders were at a religious conversation; both are correct. … It gets us thinking and talking about the need to put humanity at the center of everything we do,” Smith said.

Courtney Mares is a correspondent for Catholic News Agency in Rome. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported for news bureaus on three continents and was awarded a Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees. She is the author of Blessed Carlo Acutis: The Saint in Sneakers (Ignatius, 2023).