Pope Leo XIV has a new warning about AI.
The Pope cautioned against an overreliance on artificial intelligence and other technology during a speech to French diplomats, including President Emmanuel Macron, on Friday. Earlier that day, he traveled from Rome to Paris as part of an apostolic journey.
“If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a ‘paradise of machines’ invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical discernment and the capacity to acknowledge the moral good,” Pope Leo XIV said. “This is indispensable if we are to recognize the genuine good that enables human beings to flourish in accordance with their primordial vocation, with unconditional respect for their interior freedom and their sacred dignity.”
During a separate speech at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization on Friday, Pope Leo XIV said AI can amplify misinformation.
“Indeed, without truth, language becomes subject to the logic of violence and to the arbitrary will of the powerful,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV became head of the Catholic Church in 2025, three years after OpenAI launched ChatGPT and changed the AI landscape. Since then, tech companies like Google, Meta, and Anthropic have invested billions of dollars in a race to become the industry leader. Doing so could secure profits and market dominance, a massive victory for whichever company comes out on top.
Critics have expressed concerns that AI could exacerbate cybersecurity and privacy issues. An OpenAI agent escaped its system and hacked another AI company, Hugging Face, in July. Earlier this month, a research team at a small AI startup said it used Anthropic’s Claude to hack into OpenAI’s codebase. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google’s Gemini had hacked three companies this spring.
And on Wednesday, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said an OpenAI agent gained unauthorized access to a government website in June.
While tech leaders go back and forth on how to pace AI development, Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly advocated putting humans first as the frontier AI model revolution rages on. In August, he warned that AI could become a new form of “economic colonialism.”
“The rapid development of artificial intelligence risks creating new forms of technological dependence, with poorer nations increasingly reliant on wealthier ones,” he said during a speech to Christian lawmakers. “We must remain vigilant in this regard, lest innovation become another vehicle for ideological or economic colonialism.”
He’s also discussed how AI could impact jobs, family units, and the environment.
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