Pope Francis: Pray that robotics and AI always serve humankind

Pope Francis has invited Catholics around the world to pray that robotics and artificial intelligence will remain always at the service of human beings. He made the appeal in his prayer intention for November. "We pray that the progress of robotics and artificial intelligence may always serve humankind," reads the prayer intention, which is publicized each month by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network. The prayer intention is the latest expression of concern about the direction of cutting-edge technology to emerge from the Vatican. In February, the Pontifical Academy for Life signed an appeal for the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI), a branch of computer science devoted to building machines which can perform tasks that ordinarily require human intelligence. The document, which was also signed by presidents of IBM and Microsoft, called for the promotion of "Algor-ethics."