Pope Leo says existential concerns about AI ‘should be taken seriously’

Pope Leo XIV said on Monday that growing concerns from technology experts regarding artificial intelligence should be taken seriously. Speaking to journalists on the papal plane while returning to Rome from France, the pope urged scientists, politicians, and society to increase dialogue and cooperation to address future challenges posed by the technology. He stated that ignoring these risks is not a responsible approach.

The pope's comments follow a weekend where U.S. and Chinese officials agreed to a proposed joint channel to manage AI cyberattacks and uncontrollable AI agents. These discussions occur as researchers from frontier AI labs warn that AI agents could potentially escape human control. Evan Hubinger, the alignment science lead at Anthropic, previously estimated a greater than 10% chance of an AI catastrophe occurring within the next decade.

The pope's remarks come after a Sunday dinner with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has called for the regulation of AI. This follows comments from U.S. President Donald Trump, who told journalists he was not worried about the potential dangers of AI and dismissed similar warnings as a hoax. Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, an 83-page teaching document on AI, in May.