Opening Remarks - Human-Centered AI for Agrifood Systems: From Ethics to Implementation

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

At the outset, my Delegation would like to thank the Food and Agriculture Organization for arranging this timely event, which the Holy See is honored to co-organize, and is in line with the noble mandate of FAO: to eradicate hunger and to ensure regular access for all to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, while respecting the dignity and cultural traditions of every people.

One year ago, at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Pope Leo XIV recalled with concern that 673 million people worldwide go to bed without eating, and another 2.3 billion cannot afford a nutritionally adequate diet. The Holy Father insisted that: “these figures cannot be dismissed as mere statistics: behind each of these numbers there is a life cut short, a vulnerable community; there are mothers who cannot feed their children.”[1]

In an age where technology has extended life expectancy, has spread globally, and has opened new frontiers for development, to allow millions to die of hunger is simply “a collective failure, an ethical aberration, a historical shame”[2].

Against this backdrop, digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can provide powerful tools. They can help small farmers have access to agronomic knowledge and markets, as well as to receive early warning effectively. In fact, those technologies can truly deliver better results, offering a transformative potential for productivity, resilience and sustainability.

Nonetheless, as Pope Leo XIV underscored throughout his Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas, “technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it.”[3] The Pope also recalls the principle that “the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good”[4]. Along these lines, the design, deployment and use of AI in agrifood systems must place the God-given dignity of each person at the center and set integral human development as the essential purpose.

The international community and relevant stakeholders have a responsibility to govern AI in an ethical manner. Such a task entails acting with transparency, accountability and meaningful forms of participation.[5] In the words of the Pope, this also implies establishing adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the potentially distorting effects of technological power.[6]

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

Beyond the responsibility of using, managing and governing AI in Agrifood Systems, there lies a greater responsibility: solving world hunger. Using the tools available – both new and old – we are impelled by a duty that is as old as the history of humankind: to feed the hungry. In this endeavour, AI can offer new opportunities to close the gap between the well-fed and those who do not have access to food and nutrition. But it can also widen this rift. The choice is ours and cannot be delegated to machines. Hunger will not be ended by intelligence alone, be it human or artificial, but by conscientious, responsible, and ultimately human determination and action.

Thank you.