Pope Leo XIV unveiled the Vatican's new encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas," warning that artificial intelligence risks becoming a tool of "domination, exclusion and death" unless governments and institutions impose moral limits on the technology.
The pontiff invoked Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical on worker exploitation during the Industrial Revolution, arguing AI is a similarly transformative moment threatening human dignity. He warned about autonomous weapons systems beyond meaningful human control and biased AI blocking access to healthcare and employment. He compared AI governance to nuclear arms control.
The pope said disarming AI alone is not enough and called on governments to build systems rooted in trust and human dignity. "Stay awake," he urged, warning humanity not to surrender moral judgment to machines.