The Pope launches a powerful call to “disarm” AI to “prevent it from dominating humans”

"Disarm" artificial intelligence (AI) to "prevent it from dominating humans": Pope Leo

Ecology, crisis of multilateralism, economic monopolies: in “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), a 130-page text with a profoundly social tone, the American Pope responds to a multitude of challenges of our time by posing as defender of human dignity in the age of the digital revolution.

In this highly anticipated encyclical - a letter addressed to all the faithful, establishing a position of reference on social, moral or theological questions - Leo XIV calls for going beyond the concept of "just war" invoked in particular by the American administration of Donald Trump and denounces the delegation of lethal decisions to technology.

A sign of the importance given to this manifesto, the Pope himself is participating in its presentation Monday morning - a first - alongside senior officials from the Holy See and AI experts, including the co-founder of the American start-up Anthropic.

Since AI cannot "be considered morally neutral", it is appropriate to "disarm" it to "prevent it from dominating humans", argues the Augustinian Pope, who insists on the need for a common ethical code on AI as well as on the crucial role of education in learning to control the risks.

Today, "control of platforms, infrastructures, data and computing power does not belong to states, but to major economic and technological players" who "set the conditions of access, the rules of visibility and the possibilities of participation", he regrets.

- "Slavery" -

According to the United Nations, AI could be worth up to $4.8 trillion by 2033, a 25-fold increase in a decade, while concentrating its benefits in the hands of a limited number of players. In 2025, the UN warned of a "dangerous vacuum" in terms of regulation.

Citing Plato, JRR Tolkien, Picasso and even Beethoven for their contribution to fighting dehumanization, the American Pope also castigates "the new forms of slavery" born to extract the resources necessary for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and calls for "more sustainable technological solutions in order to reduce the impact on the environment".

“In certain regions of the world, adolescents and children work in dangerous conditions grinding the materials from which rare earths are obtained. Bodies marked, mutilated, worn out so that the flow of calculation is not interrupted,” he denounces.

The Bishop of Rome takes the opportunity to ask "sincere forgiveness" for the delay with which the Church