Pope Leo identifies AI as a main challenge for humanity

The Associated Press

· Posted: May 10, 2025 12:45 PM EDT | Last Updated: 14 minutes ago

Pope Leo XIV has laid retired his imaginativeness for his papacy, identifying artificial intelligence as 1 of the astir captious matters facing humanity and vowing to proceed successful immoderate of the halfway priorities of his predecessor, Pope Francis.

In his archetypal ceremonial audience, Leo repeatedly cited Francis's own 2013 ngo statement, making wide a committedness to making the Catholic Church much inclusive, attentive to the faithful and acrophobic with the "least and rejected."

Leo, the archetypal American-born pope, told the cardinals who elected him 2 days ago that helium was afloat committed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council that were enactment unneurotic during meetings successful the 1960s that modernized the church.

He identified AI arsenic a captious issue, saying it poses challenges to defending quality dignity, justness and labour.

Leo referred to AI successful explaining the prime of his papal name. Leo XIII, the pope from 1878 to 1903, laid the instauration for modern Catholic societal thought — astir famously with his 1891 encyclical (papal letter) Rerum Novarum, which addressed workers' rights and capitalism astatine the dawn of the concern age.

The precocious pope criticized some laissez-faire capitalism and state-centric socialism, giving signifier to a distinctly Catholic vein of economical teaching.

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"In our ain day, the religion offers everyone the treasury of its societal teaching successful effect to different concern gyration and to developments successful the tract of artificial quality that airs caller challenges for the defence of quality dignity, justness and labour," the existent pope said.

Toward the extremity of his pontificate, Francis, who died connected April 21, became progressively vocal astir the threats to humanity posed by AI and called for an planetary pact to modulate it. He warned specified almighty exertion risks turning quality relations into specified algorithms.

Francis brought his connection to the Group of Seven industrialized nations erstwhile helium addressed their acme past year, insisting AI indispensable stay human-centric truthful that decisions astir erstwhile to usage weapons oregon adjacent less-lethal tools volition ever beryllium made by humans and not machines.

The precocious Argentine pope besides utilized his 2024 yearly bid connection to telephone for an planetary pact to guarantee AI is developed and utilized ethically, arguing a exertion lacking quality values of compassion, mercy, morality and forgiveness is excessively perilous to make unchecked.

In Saturday's speech, delivered successful Italian successful the Vatican's New Synod Hall, Leo repeatedly referenced Francis and the mourning implicit his death.

He held up Francis's ngo connection astatine the 2013 commencement of his pontificate, "The Joy of the Gospel," arsenic thing of his ain marching orders, suggesting helium intends to proceed Francis's priorities.

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He referenced Francis's insistence connected the request for the religion to marque its enactment much collegial, to explicit "loving attraction for the slightest and rejected," and to prosecute successful courageous dialog with the modern world.

Leo besides mentioned the request to wage attraction to what the faithful say, "especially successful [their] astir authentic and inclusive forms, particularly fashionable piety."

Greeted by a lasting ovation arsenic helium entered, Leo work from his prepared text, lone looking up occasionally. Even erstwhile helium archetypal appeared to the satellite connected the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica connected Thursday night, Leo work from a prepared substance that helium whitethorn person drafted sometime earlier his historical predetermination oregon successful the hr oregon truthful after.