Pope Leo encyclical warns AI fueling conflict, urges world to ‘slow down’

Pope Leo XIV has called for AI advances to be slowed and blamed the technology for fueling conflict around the world.

Pope Leo XIV called for stronger regulation and a slower pace of AI advances in a landmark theological document released Monday, warning the technology was fueling and normalizing conflict around the world.

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In a sweeping and eagerly anticipated manifesto on the subject, Leo warned that artificial intelligence should not be “concentrated in the hands of only a few people.” He called for “disarming AI,” which “does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity.”

He said that “merely regulating it is insufficient.”