Pope Leo XIV said he was not in “panic mode” but believed concerns raised by AI specialists deserved attention.
Pope Leo XIV has urged world leaders and technology experts to take concerns over artificial intelligence seriously, saying warnings about AI potentially becoming dangerous should not be dismissed as “fake news”.
Speaking to reporters on Monday as he returned from a four-day trip to France, Leo was asked what the United States and China should do to prevent AI from creating serious risks for humanity.
“This is a problem that I think we need to sit down and talk about,” the US-born pope said. “We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen.”
His comments came after US President Donald Trump dismissed concerns about AI going rogue as a “hoax”.
Pope Says AI Risks Need Attention
Leo said he was not in “panic mode” but believed concerns raised by AI specialists deserved attention.
“I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI should be taken seriously,” he said.
“I don’t think that that is ‘fake news’,” Leo added, referring to claims that such warnings were being made for financial or other gains.
The pope has made AI a major focus of his papacy and dedicated his first encyclical, Magnificent Humanity, to the technology and its impact on humanity.
Calls For Global Dialogue
Leo called for political leaders, technology companies and social organisations to work together to examine both the current development of AI and its possible future impact.
“To simply say, ‘Oh, it’s not going to happen’ and close our eyes to it I think is probably not the most responsible way to go about that,” he said.
His comments come as concerns grow over increasingly powerful AI systems and their potential to perform tasks beyond human abilities.
Several technology leaders have called for greater safety measures, with Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei warning about the rapid development of advanced AI systems.