Pope Leo warns of AI risks, urges global regulation

Pope Leo XIV has urged world leaders to slow the pace of development of artificial intelligence systems, arguing that they have become instruments of war and misinformation.

In his encyclical, the first major text issued since the beginning of his papacy, the pontiff warned that AI systems are used to spread misinformation, prioritising conflicts which could lead the world into endless wars.

An encyclical is one of the pope’s most important formal teaching documents to the Catholic Church.

It is used to teach on matters of faith, morals, and social issues, and typically reveals the priorities of a pontificate to the 1.4 billion members of the Church.

Pope Leo’s document, issued on Monday, is titled Magnifica Humanitas, meaning “Magnificent Humanity.” It centres AI as its major theme, while also addressing violence, wars among countries and the transatlantic slave trade.

In the document, the first US-born pontiff warned against AI as a tool for the normalisation of war.

He described it as a “troubling revival of war as an instrument of international politics

For this reason, the development and use of AI in warfare must be subject to the most rigorous ethical constraints, to guarantee respect for human dignity and the sanctity of life and to avoid a race to develop such arms,” he wrote in the document.

He pointed out that significant control over digital systems, infrastructure, and data increasingly rests with major economic and technological actors rather than with states — a situation some scholars describe as “techno feudalism.”

Pope Leo warned that when power is concentrated “in the hands of the few, it tends to become opaque and evade public over- sight, increasing the risk of distorted forms of development that give rise to new dependencies, exclusions, manipulations and inequalities.”

The religious leader urged the “disarming” of AI systems to prevent their misuse, particularly in warfare.

He urged strong oversight of AI use by religious leaders, civil society, and the government.

Pope Leo on war, slavery

Pope Leo, who served as an American cardinal before his election to the papacy in May 2025, declared early on that he considers AI a threat to humanity.

He also criticised the US and Israel’s war on Iran and, as a result, drew the ire of President Donald Trump.