The newly cancer-free Pope Leo XIV is urging the world’s nations to “disarm” AI, including a specific call for United Nations members to “take concrete steps to ban lethal autonomous weapons” during a meeting in Geneva scheduled for November. He also called on nations to form global institutions to manage AI development and shoot down claims of AI personality.
In a papal address on Friday, Leo said: “First, the future of artificial intelligence is not predetermined. As a technology developed by humans, its future depends on the choices we make. We therefore have the responsibility to guide, change and, if necessary, reject its applications.
“So the crucial question is not simply ‘What can AI do?’ but rather: ‘What is the purpose of this?'” asked the Pope.
“Second, machines are tools, not persons,” the Pope continued, before quoting from his May 2026 encyclical – his first major ideological declaration for the Catholic Church and his official stance on AI.
“So-called artificial intelligence does not undergo experiences, does not possess a body, does not feel pleasure or pain, does not mature through relationships and does not know from the inside what love, work, friendship or responsibility means,” he quotes.
Leo said that those who treat AI as having conscious experiences risk “obscuring human responsibility and leaving those who suffer harm to face a faceless entity.” That feels pretty much like a direct response to that slice of Silicon Valley that insists that current LLMs about programs have evolved to a new form of consciousness and in some cases exhibited cult-like behavior. It’s also clear that Leo sees a direct connection between the way AI companies operate and users ending up with delusional beliefs about who they’re talking to.
Leo went on to say that certain decisions “can never be delegated,” such as those that “affect human life, liberty, and the use of force.” Leo specifically cited AI-built target lists (probably referring to systems that select targets for air or drone strikes), border control databases and autonomous weapons.
The Pope also recommended that “intelligent technologies must be directed at the general public”, which is nice, but a bit of a stretch goal. More specifically, he said that the greatest current need for international cooperation is:
“What we need at the moment are institutions capable of putting these principles into practice, especially effective international institutions that can protect the global common good,” the Pope concluded. “This calls for common standards, independent oversight and clear mechanisms of accountability, so that decisions about the development and use of AI can be reviewed, challenged when necessary, and accompanied by appropriate remedies for any harm caused.”
Leo suggested that he took his papal name from Pope Leo XIII, who presided over another period of massive technological change. Pope Francis, his predecessor, had also called for a ban on autonomous weapons.