Pope Leo XIV warns governments to slow down AI development

Pope Leo

Leo XIV, who has struck a more forceful tone in recent months and raised the ire of US President Donald Trump after criticizing the war in Iran, made a series of impassioned appeals to world leaders in the lengthy text, known as an encyclical.

The first US pope has called for ownership of AI data not to be left solely in private hands, for policymakers to protect workers' rights and keep children safe from the technology, and also calling for reduced competition among artificial intelligence companies.

"What is needed is more active political involvement, capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating," declared the pontiff in the text, titled "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity).

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The pope called for "robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility."

Encyclicals are one of the highest forms of teaching from a pontiff to the Church's 1.4 billion faithful.

This Monday's highly anticipated text (25), with almost 43 thousand words, had been in development since the election of Leo XIV as pope, just over a year ago.

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Pope Leo denounces wars around the world
The document, which addressed artificial intelligence as its main topic, also denounced the number of wars ravaging the world, lamented the weakening of multilateral organizations and warned that profits from the arms industry are a driving force behind conflicts.

"The last 60 years have been marked by conflicts of astonishing brutality, which have often affected civilian populations on a large scale", stated Leo XIV in the English text.

"Humanity is descending into a violent culture of power, where peace is no longer seen as a responsibility to be assumed, but as a fragile interval between conflicts," he said.

Leo also made one of the clearest statements to date by a pope repudiating the theory of just war, a doctrine that the Church has used since at least the 5th century to assess global conflicts.

The doctrine, which generally states that wars should only be fought to defend against aggression, was also invoked by members of the Trump administration, including Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, to defend war with Iran.

"The 'just war' theory, which has often been used to justify any type of war, is now outdated," Leão wrote.

"The use of force, violence and weapons reflects a relational poverty that always has disastrous consequences for civilian populations," he added.

The pontiff also expressed concern about the possibility of leaders starting wars to distract citizens from internal problems.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that some leaders consider armed conflict an effective way of diverting attention from internal problems and a cynical tool to manage difficulties," he said.

"New forms of slavery"
The pontiff stated that any use of artificial intelligence in war "must be subject to the most rigorous ethical restrictions" and considered it "inadmissible" to entrust lethal decisions to AI systems.

Leo XIV, the 14th pope to take that name, cited centuries of previous papal teachings on social justice issues before addressing the ethics of AI systems.

He specifically invoked his predecessor, Leo XIII, who published a famous encyclical in 1891 in which he called for better wages and working conditions for workers during the Industrial Revolution.

The leader of the Catholic Church denounced what he called "new forms of slavery" suffered by people who operate AI systems

and by workers in factories that produce the technological devices, such as computers and smartphones, in which AI is used.

"In some regions of the world, children and adolescents work in dangerous conditions, crushing materials from which rare earth elements are extracted," wrote the pontiff.

"The bodies of these people are marked, injured and worn out so that the computational flow can continue uninterrupted", he pointed out. "This reality profoundly challenges the moral conscience of our time."

The pope also acknowledged that the Catholic Church did not strongly condemn transatlantic slavery until the 19th century and made a personal apology.

"This constitutes a wound in Christian memory," he wrote. "Therefore, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for forgiveness."

Pope warns world to address AI risks
Leo XIV, who said at the opening of the letter that he wanted to address Catholics and all people of good will, said society must face "crucial questions" about how AI is developing and the general direction of global leadership.

Invoking the biblical story of the Tower of Babel - in which a human tribe, driven by pride, tries to build a tower tall enough to reach heaven, angering God -, the pope said the story shows the risk of any enterprise that "aspires to reach heaven without God's blessing."

"With the heart of a pastor and a father, I ask everyone to abandon the construction of yet another Tower of Babel and join forces in building the common good," declared the pope.

Leo XIV urged the world not to give up on addressing the possible risks of AI systems.

"A subtle temptation may arise, namely, the idea that the problems are too big and we are too small, and that therefore our choices cannot make a difference," he wrote.

"Certainly, not everyone has the same power to make a difference," said Leo XIV.

"However, no one is exempt from responsibility. We all have our own areas of expertise," he added.

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Source: CNN