Pope Leo XIV on Saturday warned of the growing risks posed by generative artificial intelligence (AI), cautioning that the technology could undermine human identity, distort relationships, manipulate public opinion and deepen social polarisation.
In a message to mark the World Day of Social Communications, the pontiff said AI systems inevitably mirror the worldview of their creators and can shape human thought by reproducing biases embedded in the data they process.
“The challenge before us is fundamentally about safeguarding human identity and authentic relationships,” Pope Leo XIV said.
His warning comes amid rapid advances in generative AI, which can now replicate, alter and produce images, music and text at levels that are sometimes indistinguishable from human-created content.
Concerns over the technology intensified in 2023 when Pope Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, became the subject of a viral AI-generated image showing him wearing a white puffer jacket.
Since then, generative AI has increasingly been used by high-profile figures, including former US President Donald Trump, who has posted or reposted computer-generated images on his social media platforms.
Pope Leo XIV cautioned that the concentration of AI development in the hands of a small number of companies grants them significant power, while AI tools themselves make it increasingly difficult to distinguish between reality and simulation.
Elected last May as the first pope from the United States, Leo XIV has consistently raised alarms about the expanding influence of artificial intelligence, and has also criticised systems that present statistical probability as reliable knowledge, arguing that such technologies ultimately offer only approximations rather than truth.
The pontiff called for effective global governance of AI and emphasised the importance of educating young people about how algorithms shape perceptions of reality.
Last month, he also condemned the accelerating use of artificial intelligence in military applications, warning against delegating life-and-death decisions to machines.
