Pope Leo XIV used his Friday papal address to call for artificial intelligence to be “disarmed.” The pope said humans have a responsibility to guide, change, and reject AI applications when necessary. The speech placed the Vatican firmly inside the global debate over machine autonomy.
The most concrete demand was directed at the United Nations. Pope Leo urged member states to take concrete steps toward banning lethal autonomous weapons. He asked them to act during their meeting in Geneva next month.
The address builds on the pope’s first major papal document, published in May. That text focused on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. Friday’s speech returned to the same theme with sharper language.
“Machines are tools, not persons,” Pope Leo said. He warned against granting AI systems rights or any form of legal personhood. That idea has circulated in policy circles for several years, and the pope rejected it outright.
He also set a clear line on human control. Decisions affecting human life, freedom, and the use of force must stay under effective human oversight. The wording covers civilian and military systems alike, and it leaves little room for automated killing.
This is not the first papal intervention on the subject. In 2024, Pope Francis called for a ban on autonomous weapons. “No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being,” Francis said at the time. Leo has now picked up that argument and carried it to the UN.
The pope has made the topic personal. He has suggested that he chose his papal name partly because he must confront advances in this technology. He drew a parallel to Leo XIII, who led the church through the Industrial Revolution.
His closing remarks targeted international institutions. He asked them to protect the common good from AI risks through shared standards and independent oversight. He also called for clear accountability mechanisms, so AI decisions can be examined, challenged, and remedied when harm occurs.
The speech carries no legal weight. It does add a prominent moral voice to a debate already moving through legislatures and UN committees. Governments drafting rules on autonomous weapons now face pressure from a church with roughly 1.4 billion members.
The pattern here is familiar to anyone following AI governance. Moral authorities draw the limits first, and regulators arrive later. Our report on AI leaders calling for global coordination shows the same dynamic playing out among the companies themselves.
Source: The Verge — Pope Leo calls for the disarmament of AI: ‘Machines are tools, not persons’
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