Paolo Benanti
Franciscan Friar and Vatican AI Adviser
Franciscan friar, theologian, and the Vatican’s go-to AI adviser who coined “algor-ethics” — arguing the answer to AI is to encode human values into it, not to reject the technology.
Why this score
How the formula works →- 35%nuancedWorks on AI safety
- 29%nuancedCampaigns for AI safety rules
- 29%nuancedSupports AI only with conditions
- 7%pro1 pro-AI statement (measured)
Evidence splits 7% pro, 0% anti, 93% direction-free → Nuanced
In his words
We must establish a language that can translate moral value into something calculable for the machine.
Biography
Paolo Benanti (born 1973) is an Italian Franciscan friar and theologian who teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University and became the Vatican’s principal adviser on artificial intelligence. He also sits on the United Nations’ AI advisory body and chaired an Italian government AI commission, making him one of the few clerics with a seat at secular AI-governance tables.
Algor-ethics
Benanti coined the term “algor-ethics” — the ethics of algorithms — to argue that AI systems are never neutral and must be steered by human values rather than raw efficiency. His project is constructive rather than prohibitive: the goal is to find a way to render moral judgments in a form a machine can act on, so that ethics is designed in from the start.
Algor-ethics is born if we are able to transform moral value into something calculable.
He was an architect of the 2020 Rome Call for AI Ethics, whose principles of transparency, inclusion, and accountability drew signatures from Microsoft, IBM, and multiple faith traditions. Where Pope Leo XIV sounds a warning, Benanti supplies the working framework — engagement over rejection.
Quote sources
- Roland Berger interview, 2023(rolandberger.com)
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/paolo-benanti
