Pope Leo warns of the dangers of artificial intelligence in a major papal document

Pope Leo XIV warned of the dangers of artificial intelligence and unfettered technological power in his first major papal document released Monday. Wonderful humanity It is the Pope’s statement on “Human Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” in which he discusses the dangers of AI-driven warfare, the effects of AI on labor, and the need for new legal and ethical frameworks governing the technology.

In his encyclical – an open letter from the Catholic Church – Pope Leo stressed the economic and social disruptions caused by the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, in light of the insufficient protection for individuals who threaten human dignity. He compared the current era of artificial intelligence to the Tower of Babel, saying that society must “avoid the ‘Babel Syndrome’,” which he defines as “the cult of profit that sacrifices the weak, uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even digital — can translate everything, including a person’s secret, into data and performance.”

Pope Leo’s message addresses key areas of modern life in which AI has become deeply embedded: the loss of jobs and work in general, AI-driven warfare, and children’s exposure to AI tools and content, among other topics. Above all, the Encyclical calls for human dignity to be an essential part of decision-making and governance. The letter is a call for “moral and social discernment that protects human primacy, in order to ensure that human intelligence, with its conscience and freedom, guides technical innovations and responsibly determines their use and limits,” Liu wrote.

The letter, consisting of more than 42,000 words, frames the call for “prudence, rigorous evaluation, and even, at times, a slower pace of AI adoption” as “a practice of responsible care for the human family.” Among some suggestions:

The effects of artificial intelligence on humanity have been a crucial issue for Pope Leo: he He chose his papal name In reference to the industrial revolution during which his predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, He published his own periodical Concerning the protection of workers in light of technological progress. Pope Leo has also been involved in the AI ​​industry, and Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah was present when the pope delivered his encyclical on Monday. POLITICO I mentioned Representatives of Amazon, Meta and Google have met with Vatican officials ahead of the publication of the papal encyclical on Monday as the tech industry tries to influence the church’s positions. (There is also a subgroup Try “AGI-Pill” Pope; Wonderful humanity It does not explicitly mention artificial general intelligence.)

The encyclical is not a blanket objection to AI. Instead, Pope Leo calls for the “disarmament” of technology – both in the military sense and in the economic and social sense. He says AI should not be used in a race to amass power or monopolize society.

“Disarmament means refuting the assumption that technical power automatically confers the right to rule. Disarmament does not mean rejecting technology, but rather preventing it from controlling humanity.”