Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546061
9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 5 AUGUST 2026 OPINION impact assessments for AI sys- tems used in healthcare, educa- tion, policing, migration, wel- fare, employment and finance. These assessments should be public and readable, not bur- ied in technical language. Cit- izens should know when AI is being used, what data it relies on, who may be harmed, who profits, and how errors can be corrected. If a system is too complex to explain, it may be too danger- ous to use in decisions that af- fect people's lives. Supporting those harmed by technology The fifth step is practical support for those harmed by technology. This could take the form of local AI justice clin- ics, run by universities, legal aid groups, unions, consumer organisations and local coun- cils. These clinics could help people challenge unfair auto- mated decisions, report digi- tal fraud, respond to deepfake abuse, or understand how their data has been used. A student wrongly accused of cheating by software, a worker rejected by an algorithm, an elderly per- son tricked by an AI-generated voice scam, or a migrant mis- classified by a database should not be left alone. The truth The sixth step is the defence of truth. This is not nostalgia for a gentler past. It is a dem- ocratic necessity. If citizens no longer know what is real, public life becomes easy to manipulate. Deepfakes, syn- thetic audio, fake news farms and personalised propaganda can destroy reputations, dis- tort elections and make people doubt everything. When trust collapses, the loudest voice wins, not the truest one. Me- dia houses, schools, political parties and technology compa- nies should agree on stronger standards for labelling artificial content and correcting false- hoods. Public broadcasters and in- dependent media should be supported in providing verifi- cation services that ordinary people can trust. Truth is not just a private preference. It is part of the infrastructure of a free society. The decision to kill The seventh step is peace. The use of artificial intelligence in weapons, targeting and surveil- lance is one of the most dan- gerous areas of all. No machine should be allowed to make a final decision to kill. That prin- ciple is simple enough for every democracy to understand and strong enough to become in- ternational law. Small states, including Malta, can play a role here by support- ing treaties, safeguards, and strict human oversight of mil- itary AI. Waiting until autono- mous weapons become normal would be a grave failure of im- agination. Community spirit The eighth step is commu- nity. This may sound modest compared with laws, treaties and regulations, but it may be the most important step of all. People are lonely. Families are under pressure. Children are anxious. Public debate is bit- ter. Neighbours often live be- side one another without really knowing one another. No technology policy can repair that on its own. Local councils, schools, sports clubs, libraries, voluntary organisa- tions, parishes and communi- ty groups should create spac- es where people meet without being sold something, profiled or pushed towards outrage. Shared meals, youth clubs, reading groups, repair cafés, visits to the elderly, mentor- ing for children and support for parents are not soft extras. They are human infrastruc- ture. Without them, technol- ogy will fill the empty spaces, often badly. A civic agenda That is how Magnifica Hu- manitas can become real from outside the church—not as a sermon imposed on society, but as a civic agenda open to everyone. Its message can be translated into simple principles. Chil- dren are not users. Workers are not costs. Citizens are not data points. The elderly are not burdens. The poor are not af- terthoughts. And progress is not progress if it leaves people more isolated, powerless and afraid. The encyclical will matter on- ly if it leaves the page. It must enter classrooms, employment contracts, procurement rules, public law, media standards, family conversations and local communities. It must become a way of asking, again and again, whether a tool serves the per- son or the person serves the tool. That is the choice before us. We can build another Tower of Babel—impressive, profit- able, fast and ultimately inhu- man. Or we can rebuild Jeru- salem—slower, humbler, more difficult, but more worthy of the human person. Ultimately, it's our civic responsibility to ensure that the technologies we build make society more just, more human and more worthy of the people who must live in it. One does not need to be Catholic, or even religious, to understand the danger of a society that becomes smarter as it grows colder. We are already living with some of the early signs.