Pope calls for AI disarmament and ban on lethal autonomous weapons
Source Summary
Pope Leo XIV has called for AI systems to be "disarmed" and urged United Nations member states to take concrete steps toward banning lethal autonomous weapons during their meeting in Geneva next month. The Pope stated that "Machines are tools, not persons" and emphasized that humans have the responsibility to guide, change, and reject AI applications when necessary. The address builds on themes from his May encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.
Why it matters
The Pope's call for UN action on lethal autonomous weapons represents a major religious institution's direct intervention in multilateral diplomacy on AI governance, influencing the international policy debate ahead of scheduled Geneva negotiations.
