The Friar Who Became the Vatican’s Go-To Guy on A.I.

Paolo Benanti advises the Roman Catholic Church and the Italian government on the tricky questions, moral and otherwise, raised by the rapidly advancing technology.

Before dawn, Paolo Benanti climbed to the bell tower of his 16th-century monastery, admired the sunrise over the ruins of the Roman forum and reflected on a world in flux.

“It was a wonderful meditation on what is going on inside,” he said, stepping onto the street in his friar robe. “And outside too.”

There is a lot is going on for Father Benanti, who, as both the Vatican’s and the Italian government’s go-to artificial intelligence ethicist, spends his days thinking about the Holy Ghost and the ghosts in the machines.

Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com