Francis meets with native officers and dignitaries in an prosperous city-state on the finish of his Asia-Pacific tour.
Pope Francis, on a go to to Singapore, warned of the adverse results of synthetic intelligence (AI) on society and known as for “honest” wages for migrant staff.
The feedback by the pinnacle of the Catholic Church got here on Thursday because the high-tech city-state turned his ultimate cease on a 12-day tour of Asia Pacific.
Technological advances danger isolating people and putting them in a false actuality, Francis stated, including that AI must be used to carry folks collectively and promote understanding and solidarity inside society.
He additionally warned that AI shouldn’t make folks neglect what’s vital: human relationships.
This isn’t the primary time the 87-year-old pontiff has spoken out about synthetic intelligence. In June, he known as for a ban on “deadly autonomous weapons” throughout a speech to leaders of the Group of Seven main industrial democracies on the bloc’s summit in Italy.
In prosperous Singapore, Francis additionally known as for international staff to obtain honest wages, saying “specific consideration” must be paid to “defending the dignity of migrant staff.”
“These staff contribute rather a lot to society they usually should be assured a good wage,” he stated in a speech to political leaders and native dignitaries.
Low-cost labor has been instrumental within the fast development of glittering metropolises like Singapore.
In keeping with authorities information as of December 2023, there have been 1.1 million foreigners with work permits in Singapore incomes lower than S$3,000 ($2,300) a month.
The determine contains 286,300 home staff and 441,100 staff within the development, shipyard and manufacturing sectors. Most of them come from Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Defenders say they lack sufficient safety from exploitation and typically endure poor dwelling circumstances, allegations the federal government denies.
A Singaporean NGO that gives companies to migrant staff, the Humanitarian Group for Migration Economics, welcomed the Pope’s feedback, saying they had been “in full settlement” together with his name for honest wages.
In keeping with the Worldwide Labour Group, there are an estimated 170 million migrant staff worldwide, about 5 p.c of the worldwide workforce.
Singapore is the final leg of the Pope’s whirlwind tour, which has taken him to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor. In East Timor, he celebrated a mass for 600,000 trustworthy, virtually half the nation’s inhabitants.
In keeping with the Vatican, of Singapore’s almost six million inhabitants, some 176,000 are Catholic.
An enormous crowd at Singapore’s Nationwide Stadium was anticipated to attract round 55,000 folks on Thursday afternoon.
Talking exterior the venue, Al Jazeera’s Patrick Fok stated Catholics in Singapore had been “simply thrilled and elated” to welcome the pope.
He added that individuals from throughout the area had travelled to the city-state for the event, together with Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Francis returns to Rome on Friday.
