Pope Leo is intensifying the Vatican’s campaign for international oversight of artificial intelligence, warning that increasingly powerful systems could threaten security, social cohesion and humanity’s ability to control technologies it creates.
The first U.S.-born pope made AI governance a prominent issue early in his papacy and returned to the subject Thursday in remarks to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. He said artificial intelligence could deliver significant benefits but was also creating new risks for international peace and security, according to Reuters.
The Vatican’s concerns predate the recent wave of warnings from technology executives and researchers. The Holy See began convening discussions about AI risks in 2019 and has since pressed governments and companies to establish safeguards around the technology, Reuters reported.
“This is not happening on day zero for the Holy See,” the Rev. Paolo Benanti, a Vatican adviser on artificial intelligence, told Reuters, referring to recent industry calls to slow the development of increasingly capable systems.
Benanti said AI’s capacity to transform society could produce consequences that are difficult to anticipate. His comments come as executives and researchers at some of the world’s largest AI developers have raised increasingly urgent questions about whether safeguards are keeping pace with advances in the technology, according to Reuters.
Leo, who has been pope for about 16 months, first publicly addressed AI just days after taking office. In May, he called for international rules governing the industry and warned about the technology’s potential to amplify misinformation and conflict, Reuters reported.
The pope reiterated his concerns this week, calling for AI systems that protect human dignity rather than deepen social divisions. In a message to an AI conference in Rome on Monday, Leo urged developers to build technology that strengthens peace and human connections, according to Reuters.
The Vatican’s diplomatic leadership has also sought a coordinated international response. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s secretary of state, said at an event in Rome last week that individual countries could not adequately address the technology’s implications on their own, Reuters reported. Parolin called for common international rules, saying the consequences could affect humanity as a whole.
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Those appeals coincide with a broader reassessment inside the AI industry. Leaders and researchers associated with major developers including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Microsoft and xAI have recently supported measures aimed at slowing or more closely scrutinizing development of increasingly capable systems, according to Reuters. Other technology executives and political leaders have argued that restricting development could undermine innovation and geopolitical competitiveness.
The debate has also reached the American public. A Reuters/Ipsos survey completed this month found 73% of U.S. adults were concerned that AI companies were not doing enough to prevent serious societal harm. Fifty-five percent said slowing AI development would be beneficial, while 13% disagreed. The online poll surveyed 1,277 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of about three percentage points.
For the Vatican, the issue extends beyond generative AI and commercial software. Leo has placed particular emphasis on autonomous weapons, warning about military systems whose operation can move beyond meaningful human control, according to Reuters. The Holy See has advocated restrictions on autonomous weaponry for years.
Benanti compared the challenge to the Catholic Church’s longstanding advocacy for nuclear disarmament. Unlike nuclear arsenals, however, advanced AI systems are software that can be widely distributed and difficult to inventory or contain, he told Reuters. He also warned that manipulated AI-generated material could weaken societies by damaging their shared information environment.
The Vatican has previously worked with technology companies and international organizations on principles for responsible AI. In 2020, it joined Microsoft, IBM, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Italian government in backing an approach to AI development that would put human welfare ahead of purely commercial objectives, Reuters reported.
Engagement with the technology industry has continued. Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah attended a Vatican event connected with Leo’s May document on AI, while U.S. Catholic bishops established an AI task force this month after church leaders met technology executives, according to Reuters.
Leo is expected to carry that message beyond Rome. During a visit to France, he is scheduled to address UNESCO in Paris, where artificial intelligence and international governance are expected to figure prominently in his remarks, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters
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