Key point: Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical and warns against autonomous weapons and algorithmic decision-making. The Pope calls for AI to remain subject to moral principles and to be regulated through new legal frameworks to ensure that technology truly serves humanity.
On Monday, Pope Leo XIV warned of the dangers of using artificial intelligence in warfare and called for the technology to be “defused” and prevented from “domination over humanity.” In an encyclical, the Pope stated that artificial intelligence must never be used to execute decisions about life and death.
In a historic step, Pope Leo XIV presented his first encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” jointly with Canadian technology entrepreneur Christopher Olah, co-founder of AI company Anthropic. This unusual approach underscores the significance of the document for the global debate on artificial intelligence in warfare, work, and society.
The encyclical positions the Vatican potentially in direct conflict with governments seeking to deploy artificial intelligence as a strategic tool. The Pope, who holds a degree in mathematics and previously taught physics, does not fundamentally condemn artificial intelligence. However, he warns that chatbots and other AI systems must never be regarded as equivalent to humans.
Leo pays particular attention to threats posed by autonomous weapons, algorithmic decision-making, and the erosion of human accountability in warfare. The document underscores that artificial intelligence must remain subject to moral principles and new legal frameworks so that new technologies “truly serve humanity.”