Pope Leo XIV has called for stringent regulation of AI, and has implored its developers to work for the common good.
Today (May 25), he issued his first encyclical, a sweeping manifesto delivered at a time the ever-developing technology is increasingly impacting virtually all walks of life, from work to war.
Titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), the lengthy document follows his previous declaration that AI represented humanity’s biggest challenge.
The US-born pontiff presented the text at the Vatican alongside senior Church officials and leading AI experts, with the Vatican moving to involve artificial intelligence org Anthropic as part of its long-charted effort to engage Silicon Valley in dialogue over the human cost of AI.
Leo denounced the “culture of power” driving the AI race, particularly in its development of remote warfare, which comes after Leo drew the ire of President Donald Trump after criticising the Iran war. Today, he said it was no longer “permissible” to entrust lethal decisions to AI systems.
“Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed,” he said. “The word is strong I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity.”
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Condemning the concentration of power and data being left in the hands of a select few in the private sector, he said: “It is not enough to invoke ethics in the abstract; robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility are required.
“A more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few.”
Leo appealed to AI developers and political leaders several times throughout, asking them to reflect on what they’re doing with the tech, and suggested they use ethical and spiritual guidelines to make the choice to work not for their own profit or power, but the better of humanity.
He also strongly decried they way AI had helped accelerate the “normalisation of war” by desensitising people to its cost, and said it “can only bring conflict about more quickly and render it more impersonal”, and called for concrete criteria when making a decision to strike.
Proposed non-negotiable requirements included guarantees that lethal force could not be automated, as well as a shared international framework “to curb the technological arms race and ensure robust protection for civilians.”
“The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means, and the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good,” Leo wrote.
His words come at a time AI continues to pose existential questions and change culture in real time, prompting government intervention in the UK.
Earlier this year, it was announced that the government would ditch “deeply damaging” plans to allow AI firms to use copyrighted work without permission, although many in the industry argue much more needs to be done.
Elsewhere, Deezer recently revealed that almost half of the music now uploaded to its platform is AI-generated. The French music streaming service has said there are now roughly 75,000 new tracks made with AI technology being added to the service every day, which amounts to 44 per cent of the total number.
The 44 per cent figure represents a huge jump from the 28 per cent declared last September, which itself was up from 10 per cent last January.
It follows on from a Deezer study last November, which found that 97 per cent of people “can’t tell the difference” between real and AI music. Alongside polling company Ipsos, they asked around 9,000 people from eight countries to listen to three tracks to determine which was fully AI-generated.
According to the report, 97 per cent of those respondents “failed”, with over half (52 per cent) saying they felt “uncomfortable” to not know the difference. 71 per cent also said that they were shocked at the results.