Pope Leo warns AI revolution driven by ‘idolatry of profit’

Pontiff calls for ‘most rigorous’ ethical constraints on tech and apologises for church’s delay in condemning slavery Pope Leo has denounced the “culture of power” driving the rapid rise of artificial intelligence while warning that the technology must be subject to the “most rigorous” ethical constraints as it infiltrates everything from work to war. In his encyclical – the first major text on safeguarding humankind of his papacy – Leo, the first US-born pontiff, also apologised for the Catholic church’s long delay in condemning slavery, describing it as “a wound in Christian memory”, while warning about the “new forms of slavery” due to the digital economy. Continue reading...

The document marks a powerful foray by the leader of the Roman Catholic church into the debate about the misuse or overuse of artificial intelligence.

Leo XIV is to issue his thoughts about artificial intelligence in the modern world, using a centuries-old form of papal communication called an encyclical, the first since he became pope.

The pope’s encyclical will address ‘the protection of the human person in the age of AI’, the Vatican says In the first major text of his papacy, Pope Leo will address the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. The Chicago-born pontiff will present the document, known as an encyclical, at the Vatican next week during an event attended by Christopher Olah, the co-founder of Anthropic – a US-based AI firm that has clashed with Donald Trump’s administration. Continue reading...

The proliferation of artificial intelligence could spread “polarisation, conflict, fear and violence”, Pope Leo XIV told students at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé on Friday. The pope has hit out at tyrants, corruption and neocolonial world powers over the course of his 11-day tour of Africa.

Donald Trump launched an extraordinary attack on Pope Leo late Sunday, also going as far as to share an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ healing the sick. He later deleted the image Monday following backlash from his usually loyal Christian and Catholic supporters, saying he “thought it was me as a doctor.”