Pope Leo XIV called for artificial intelligence to be “disarmed” on Monday, urging stronger regulation and human oversight of the technology [1].
The appeal marks a significant intervention by the Vatican into the global debate over AI safety. By framing the technology as a weapon that requires disarmament, the Pope is pushing for a shift from voluntary industry guidelines to binding international restrictions, particularly regarding autonomous weapons systems.
Speaking from the Vatican, the Pope said that AI is not morally neutral [2]. He said that the current pace of adoption threatens human dignity and risks creating what he described as “new digital slaveries” [3].
These concerns are detailed in the Pope's first encyclical, a document totaling between 42,000 and 42,300 words [4, 5]. In the text and his public address, he said that the development of increasingly autonomous weapons creates a scenario where lethal force is beyond effective human governance [6].
"Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed," the Pope said [1].
He said that the efficiency and automation provided by these tools may lower the threshold for conflict. "AI makes war more feasible," he said [7].
The Pope called for a slower pace of AI adoption to ensure that ethical frameworks can keep pace with technical capabilities [8]. He said that human oversight must remain central to any system capable of making life-and-death decisions.
“"Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed."”
The Vatican is attempting to pivot the AI conversation from economic productivity to existential ethics. By labeling AI as a tool that makes war more feasible, the Pope is aligning the Catholic Church with international movements seeking a preemptive ban on 'killer robots' and autonomous lethal weapons systems, challenging the narrative that AI development is a neutral technological race.
