Pontifical Pope and leader of the Catholic Church Pope Leo XIV has called on governments across the World to hurriedly disarm Artificial Intelligence labelling the technology as a “Death Tool” that is currently used to orchestrate thousands of innocent killings and promote inequality across the World.
Pope Leo XIV used his first major manifesto, published Monday, to urge governments to “disarm” artificial intelligence and be guided by the common good rather than power or profit.
The first US pontiff stressed that while AI can be a valuable tool, it also poses many dangers to humanity.
”Artificial Intelligence now demands to be disarmed, freed from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion and death,” the pope told a special Vatican presentation of the document, known as an encyclical.
Encyclicals are seen as an authoritative form of teaching from a pope to the Catholic Church’s 1.4 billion members.
Leo’s first encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), follows several years of study by the church on AI-related technologies.
In the text, the pontiff was particularly critical of the role of the fast-moving technology in conflicts, arguing that AI-supported autonomous weapons systems have made war “more feasible.”
He said any use of AI in warfare “must be subject to the most rigorous ethical constraints” and said it was “not permissible” to entrust lethal decisions to AI systems.
Leo stressed, however, that “to disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity.”
AI should be “human-friendly,” accessible to all and opened to discussion and debate, he added, lamenting that power was often concentrated in the hands of a few.
This means that “small but highly influential groups can shape information and consumption patterns, influence democratic processes and steer economic dynamics to their own advantage,” he wrote.
For that reason, it is essential that AI be strictly regulated and face “robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility,” the pope said.
Leo also warned that the rise of AI was being accompanied by “new forms of slavery” — from content moderators forced to watch disturbing material to children extracting rare earth minerals needed for the digital economy.
”The bodies of these people are scarred, injured and worn down so that computational flow may continue uninterruptedly,” he said. “This reality deeply challenges the moral conscience of our time.”
The presentation at the Vatican was attended by AI experts, including Chris Olah, the co-founder of US-based AI giant Anthropic. The company is currently locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration over its refusal to allow access to its AI models.
Why This Matters: AI’s increasing Use in Military Warfare
AI today is increasingly being deployed in Military operations across different countries where Insecurity, fighting and bloodshed is evidenced. Artificial Intelligence Surveillance by Anthropic was deployed on the very first day of the US-Iran War to track the exact locations of the Iran Supreme Leader before the Airstrike that killed the now deceased Iran Supreme Leader.
Part of AI’s Deployment in Military operations today include War material logistic distribution, monitoring and tracking using AI tools that offers top notch precision in monitoring and tracking.
AI Child Online safety Raising Questions as ChatBot Use Linked To rising Cases of Teen Self-harm
After a wave of lawsuits linked AI chatbots to teen self-harm and suicide, the U.S Congress is advancing two bills to regulate them. The GUARD Act and CHATBOT Act seek to address the mounting concerns over chatbot harms. The introduction of two bipartisan bills within six months reflects a genuine cross-aisle consensus that the status quo cannot continue, particularly one in which platforms enable chatbots to form emotionally dependent relationships with minors and treat crisis protocols as discretionary product features.
For two decades, teens were the crash-test dummies for social media, says Bruce Reed, head of AI at Common Sense Media. He argues we can’t afford to repeat that mistake with AI — and that’s why Common Sense unveiled a new Youth AI Safety Institute to help prevent it. The Institute is backed by a $20 million annual budget to “rigorously test AI products.”
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