Vatican names Google AI boss to scientific academy
by AFP Staff Writers
Vatican City (AFP) Mar 8, 2024

The Vatican on Friday named artificial intelligence pioneer Demis Hassabis, head of Google DeepMind, to its scientific academy, as Pope Francis seeks to influence the expansion of the technology.

The 47-year-old Briton was included on a list of experts named to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, alongside Nobel prize-winning physicists Andrea Ghez and Didier Queloz.

Founded in 1603, the academy is the Vatican institution that deals with science, technology, medical ethics and philosophy. Its members are not chosen on religious grounds.

Pope Francis, 87, published a six-page message in December warning of the dangers of AI and calling for a global treaty to ensure the technology is used in an ethical way.

Hassabis founded DeepMind as a start-up in London in 2010.

Four years later, it was acquired by US tech giant Google, which last year merged the company with the Brain unit of Google Research to form Google DeepMind.

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