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AIPIA — Italian AI Professionals Association
Rome Call for AI Ethics

Official Endorser of the Rome Call

The Rome Call for AI Ethics is a public document signed in 2020 at the Pontifical Academy for Life by Microsoft, IBM, FAO, and the Italian government, with the support of religious leaders from the world's major faiths. It commits signatories to six principles for human-centred AI development. AIPIA endorses the Call and integrates its principles into its Code of Ethics.

About the Rome Call

What the Rome Call is — and what it asks

The Rome Call for AI Ethics was launched on 28 February 2020 at the Pontifical Academy for Life in Vatican City. It is not a treaty, nor a regulatory instrument. It is a public commitment by signatories to uphold six principles in the design, development, and deployment of artificial intelligence systems.

The Call carries weight precisely because its signatories are not just technology companies. The Holy See initiated it; Microsoft, IBM, and FAO joined as first industrial and intergovernmental signatories; subsequent signatories include leaders of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, who jointly endorsed the principles in 2023. The resulting coalition is unusual in tying together commercial AI development and the moral authority of the world's major religious traditions.

For practitioners, the Rome Call offers a principled anchor that predates and informs more recent regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act, the UNESCO Recommendation, and the Council of Europe Framework Convention. Adoption of its principles is increasingly cited as a signal of serious AI ethics commitment.

AIPIA's role

AIPIA is an Official Endorser of the Rome Call. The six principles appear in AIPIA's Code of Ethics, in the technical guidelines published by the CTS, and in the training curriculum closing with the European Digital Credential. AIPIA members commit to applying these principles in their professional practice.

The six principles

What signatories commit to

  1. 1

    Transparency

    AI systems must be explainable and traceable. Their workings should be open to scrutiny by users, regulators, and affected parties.

  2. 2

    Inclusion

    AI must serve every person, particularly the most vulnerable. No one may be excluded from its benefits or burdened disproportionately by its risks.

  3. 3

    Responsibility

    Those who design, deploy, and use AI bear accountability for its consequences. Responsibility cannot be displaced onto autonomous systems.

  4. 4

    Impartiality

    AI must operate without bias, discrimination, or prejudice. Fairness is engineered, not assumed.

  5. 5

    Reliability

    AI must be robust, predictable, and safe. Systems that fail unpredictably have no place in production contexts affecting lives.

  6. 6

    Security & privacy

    AI must respect users' privacy and protect their data. Security is a precondition, not a feature.

The full text of the Rome Call is available at romecall.org.

Build AI on principled foundations

AIPIA Code of Ethics translates the Rome Call principles into binding professional obligations. Membership requires acceptance of the Code.

Read the Code Become a Member