?Balancing Technological Progress and the Preservation of Human Values in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" is the theme of the Congress of UCAP that will take place at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Legon, Accra, Ghana.

This event, the most important organized by Catholic journalists on the African continent, will be attended by professionals of communication, media and digital technologies, from Africa and other continents.

On Monday, 2nd December, 2024, the continental Executive Committee of UCAP chaired by its President, Mr Charles Ayetan, a Togolese journalist and consultant in media strategies,  appealed to "stakeholders and any institution, organization and company, interested in the theme and topics of this Pan-African Congress to support its implementation, contributing to a sustainable development of the continent".

On behalf of the Organizing Committee of this Congress, Mrs Victoria Lugey, a Ghanaian journalist and immediate past Vice-President of UCAP and also the immediate past President of CAMP-G, stressed the importance of this event for media practitioners and users of technology. She said that the main objective of  the Congress is to ?strengthen the capacities of media professionals with the aim of educating the public on the need to promote and preserve human values in a world strongly impacted by technological progress, particularly with the advent of Artificial Intelligence."

To achieve this objective, the Organizing Committee has  proposed many specific objectives, such as training  media practitioners in the various uses and forms of Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies, while balancing them with human values. Other specific objectives are focused on the promotion of ethics and bioethics in the processes of technical research and technological innovations through the media; the promotion of human values such as the respect for life and human dignity, charity, solidarity, human rights, etc.

Taking stock of technological progress, participants will better understand the challenges, risks and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence. Journalists and communicators will then be empowered to contribute to promoting human values in a world under the grip of unprecedented technological revolutions.

Finally, the Congress will facilitate the strengthening of the network of African journalists and inaugurate a network of journalists committed to the promotion of human values.

Resource persons from various disciplines, will  discuss sub-themes such as:

•    Corporate Social Responsibility in Managing the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Values;
•     Deploying AI in Eco-Friendly Business Start-ups in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges;
•    Technology and the Reprogramming of Social Reality;
•    Distortion of Reality in Social and Digital Media;
•    Ecological Education and Action Against Unsustainable Exploitation of Natural Resources;
•    Media and Promotion of the Recommendations of the Synod on Synodality in Africa.
Towards the end of the Congress, participants, who are expected to attend from all over Africa and beyond would be taken on a tour to some media houses, media training institutions and other places of cultural, historical and technological interest in Accra, Elmina, etc.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Catholic Union of the Press (UCAP).