Proper education for AI users is, of course, a key aspect. But this education should not be limited to knowing how to use AI; it should also include knowing when not to use AI – when we should practise an ‘AI fast’
The very recent Encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” focuses, as is well known, on the challenges that Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses to humanity. It contains a wide range of relevant reflections, which have prompted a variety of interesting reactions.
I would like to draw attention to an aspect that has gone somewhat unnoticed: the Pope’s call to each of us, and in particular to educational institutions, to cultivate a ‘hygiene of attention’.
It is well known that digital platforms, and social media in particular, have been designed to maximise users’ time spent on them or the number of ‘likes’, shares or comments they make. To this end, they employ techniques (such as content personalisation or the dissemination of polarising posts) that ‘hook’ the user into the network, thereby maximising the platforms’ revenue.
As a result, we spend more and more time staring at screens – some estimate 4 to 5 hours a day – without realising what benefit we derive from it, and distancing ourselves from activities that truly fulfil us as people. Worse still, social media, through its algorithms, may end up subtly leading us to hold opinions and adopt positions that would otherwise seem inappropriate to us.
