The Pope has a message for AI executives

At the Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence on Friday, Pope Leo talked about where AI is headed.

The event was attended by Vatican officials, American academics, and Silicon Valley executives from Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and more. The new pope urged serious reflection on “the inherently ethical dimension of AI, as well as its responsible governance.”

Pope Leo acknowledged AI’s “extraordinary potential” but said there were “troubling questions on its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, on our distinctive ability to grasp and process reality.”

The Trump administration is touting legislation, embedded in the “big, beautiful bill” that the Senate hopes to pass before summer recess, that would bar states from regulating AI for a decade. There has been bipartisan opposition to the measure, including from staunch Trump supporters like Marjorie Taylor-Greene.

Even Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks the bill is “far too blunt an instrument.” In a New York Times op-ed, Amodei wrote, “I believe that these systems could change the world, fundamentally, within two years; in 10 years, all bets are off. Without a clear plan for a federal response, a moratorium would give us the worst of both worlds — no ability for states to act, and no national policy as a backstop.”

Pope Leo said AI’s benefits and risks must be evaluated using a “superior ethical criterion,” adding that it “challenges all of us to reflect more deeply on the true nature and uniqueness of our shared human dignity.” He added that “access to data — however extensive — must not be confused with intelligence.”

The Vatican has been monitoring AI development since at least 2020, issuing a “Call for AI Ethics” aiming to “create a future in which digital innovation and technological progress grant mankind its centrality.” IBM and Microsoft participated in the paper. 

In 2023, Pope Francis warned about a “technological dictatorship” unless AI was subject to a binding international treaty, and was particularly concerned about military usage. Earlier this year, the U.S. announced “Thunderforge,” a Scale AI program to integrate AI into military planning and operations. This past week, OpenAI landed a $200 million defense contract, and tech execs were sworn in as Army Reserve officers, advising on AI use.

Pope Leo XIV named himself a successor to the pope who supported labour rights during the Industrial Revolution. In his first public address after becoming pope in May, Leo said that because of AI progress, society was in the midst of a new industrial revolution, with “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”