Newly cancer-free Pope Leo XIV is urging the nations of the world to “disarm” AI, including a specific call for United Nations members to “take concrete steps toward banning lethal autonomous weapons” during a meeting in Geneva scheduled for November. He also called for nations to form global institutions to manage AI development and shot down claims of AI personhood.

In a papal address on Friday, Leo said: “First, the future of artificial intelligence is not pre-determined. As a technology developed by human beings, its future depends on the choices we make. We therefore have the responsibility to guide, change and, when necessary, reject its applications.”

“The decisive question, then, is not simply ‘What can AI do?’ but rather, ‘What purpose should it serve?'” the pope asked.

“Second, machines are tools, not persons,” the pope continued, before quoting from his May 2026 encyclical—his first major ideological declaration for the Catholic Church and its official stance on AI.

“So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean,” he quoted.

” That feels pretty much like a direct response to that slice of Silicon Valley that keeps insisting current-day LLMs have evolved beyond programs to a new form of consciousness and have in some cases exhibited cult-like behavior . It’s also clear that Leo sees a direct connection between the way AI companies operate and users that end up with delusional beliefs about who they’re talking to.

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