IBM Recommits to the 'Rome Call for AI Ethics' as the Vatican Welcomes Eastern Religions to the Pledge

HIROSHIMA, Japan, July 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, at the AI Ethics for Peace: World Religions commit to the Rome Call event, IBM (NYSE: IBM) reaffirmed its leadership and commitment to the Rome Call for AI Ethics. Hosted by the Vatican's RenAIssance Foundation, in collaboration with the Pontifical Academy of Life, Religions for Peace Japan, United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel's Commission for Interfaith Relations, this latest gathering for the Rome Call welcomes the co-signage of eastern religious leaders and seeks to shape the technical progress to support the progress of humanity, and inspire peaceful collaboration and global unity for ethical AI development, the core principle of the document.

This interreligious event follows a series of Rome Call milestones that IBM has played a significant role in – from being one of the first signatories of the Call back in February 2020, to leading the Rome Call for AI Ethics Global University Summit, hosted by Notre Dame University and including 40 educational institutions in 2022, to the 2023 signing of the Call by three Abrahamic religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

"AI is a technology with implications across every country, industry and value system – and its benefits should impact the whole of humanity. It is with great pride that IBM once again renews its commitment to the Rome Call for AI Ethics, accompanied now by new, like-minded eastern religious leaders," said Darío Gil, IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research. "Delivering on our commitments is of paramount importance, and through efforts such as the Rome Call and the AI Alliance, we're uniting developers, researchers, industry leaders and advocates to transparently advance responsible AI rooted in open innovation."

As a longtime industry proponent in ethical AI development, IBM has worked with organizations around the world to ensure that powerful technologies – like AI – are created responsibly and ethically from the start. In 2018, IBM introduced its Principles for Trust and Transparency and was among one of the first companies to create an AI Ethics Board as an instrument for internal governance around AI ethics, which includes processes, tools, guidelines, education and risk assessment for overseeing the company's AI development and usage practices, as well as partnership with many AI stakeholders to advance AI ethics in a concrete, collaborative and inclusive environment.

IBM's AI approach to ethics is infused throughout the company, including in its products and platforms such as watsonx and across IBM's AI and data governance assets and risk management solutions, reflecting the maturity of the company's journey and the clear vision for IBM and its clients. This approach is also used to develop Granite, IBM's family of large language models. These solutions and models reflect the maturity of IBM's journey and vision for its clients.

Additionally, in December 2023, IBM co-founded the AI Alliance, which now consists of more than 100 enterprises, startups, educational institutions, government agencies and research labs around the world. The Alliance is focused on accelerating open-source innovation to improve trust in AI, and responsibly maximize its benefits to people and society in an inclusive way.

The Alliance aims to build a differentiated approach to developing new, cultural and societal AI tuning techniques and to create a more accessible, democratized approach to AI development, with the skills and education to move the industry forward and will look to establish more than just guidelines on use, but rather concrete paths to build AI systems that advance and improve our daily lives. The goal is to transform AI users into AI co-creators, so that each person can maintain full agency and control of AI usage. This is in line with the principles of the Rome Call for AI Ethics, that focus on inclusion, rights and responsibility.

To learn more about IBM's efforts in AI ethics, visit here.

About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

Media Contact:
Brittany Forgione
Brittany.forgione@ibm.com

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