Asger Risom
Pope Leo XIV has warned that artificial intelligence could deepen inequality, weaken human accountability, and accelerate conflict unless governments move quickly to impose ethical and democratic limits on the technology.
Pope Leo XIV has called for urgent international oversight of artificial intelligence, warning that unchecked AI development risks deepening inequality, accelerating conflict, and eroding human moral responsibility.
In his first papal encyclical, the pontiff positioned AI not simply as a technological issue, but as a defining political and ethical struggle of the modern era — one he warned governments may already be losing control over.
A warning from Rome
Speaking at the Vatican on Monday, Leo said artificial intelligence must be regulated to “safeguard humanity” before technological development outpaces democratic oversight.
According to Politico, the pope condemned what he described as a global race for dominance in AI, warning that countries and corporations are pursuing increasingly powerful systems through “a dehumanizing ambition to develop ever more powerful technologies or to secure control over them.”
“Let us not sleep,” Leo said during the unveiling of the document. “Vigilance is necessary.”
The encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas, marks the first major policy document of Leo’s papacy and builds on years of Vatican concern over artificial intelligence and automation.
Beyond technology
Leo framed AI as part of a wider struggle over labor, war, inequality, and human dignity, drawing comparisons to the Industrial Revolution that reshaped society in the late 19th century.
Like Pope Leo XIII’s landmark 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed workers’ rights during industrialization, Leo XIV’s document attempts to position the Catholic Church inside one of the defining debates of the century.
The pope warned that AI systems could worsen social fragmentation, weaken accountability, and make warfare easier to wage by distancing political leaders from the human consequences of violence.
He also raised concerns over autonomous weapons systems, arguing that artificial intelligence risks detaching conflict from moral responsibility.
A battle over control
The Vatican’s intervention places Pope Leo increasingly at odds with governments aggressively expanding AI development for military and economic purposes, including the United States, China, and Russia.
The document arrives as Washington and Beijing continue pouring billions into AI infrastructure, military applications, and strategic competition.
Christopher Olah, cofounder of Anthropic, joined the Vatican for the unveiling and argued that outside pressure is needed because AI companies remain driven by market competition and personal ambition.
While Olah said AI systems are increasingly adopting human-like capabilities, Leo insisted machines would never be capable of genuine conscience, morality, or human relationships.
“No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil,” the pope wrote.
Sources: POLITICO
