Rome Call for AI Ethics: Considerations for a Philippine Response

This paper surveys the three impact areas identified in the “Rome Call for AI Ethics”, focusing on how they relate to the Philippine context. Resulting from a conference organized by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, the said document advances an ethical approach to the development and employment of artificially intelligent systems. Specifically, it centers on three impact areas, namely: ethics, education, and rights. In this article, the current state of these areas in the Philippines are examined (i.e., in order to provide an initial, practicable backdrop for any prospective response). By treating the said impact areas as initial assessment indicators, this study argues that the Philippine government is not that primed to respond to the Vatican’s call in light of its track record of handling concerns related to ethics, education, and rights. Additionally, this research also holds that, although there might be certain challenges in further reforming the standing of these impact areas in the Philippines, there are indications that things are moving towards a positive direction.